Distribution of updated civil defense handbook to start Wednesday

Taipei, Nov. 18 (CNA) Taiwan's updated National Public Safety Guide will be mailed to all citizens from Wednesday, with hard copies also distributed to certain embassies and foreign representative offices, government officials said Tuesday.

At a Ministry of National Defense (MND) news conference, the All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency's Shen Wei-chih (沈威志) said that the book aims to foster public awareness of self-defense in the event of war or natural disasters.

"The guides will be disseminated to the public to enhance society's overall understanding of threats and bolster defense awareness, demonstrating the government's emphasis on people's safety and its determination to pursue self-defense," Shen said.

The nationwide distribution campaign was planned according to President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) directive on Sept. 20, Shen added.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications and state-run Chunghwa Post will deliver the handbooks in four phases, starting on Wednesday in the offshore counties of Penghu, Kinmen, and Lienchiang, and remote and mountainous areas.

"Recently, countries including the Czech Republic, France, Sweden, Finland, and Lithuania have all released or planned new civil defense manuals or survival guides," Shen said. "Taiwan is keeping pace with international standards, moving in the same direction as other democratic nations."

The goal is to deliver all handbooks to Taiwan's approximately 9.83 million registered households by Jan. 5, he said.

Meanwhile, an additional 105,000 copies of the English-language version of the guide will be delivered to embassies and representative offices starting Dec. 19, according to Chao Shih-hsuan (趙世絢), a deputy counselor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While some will need to pick up the guides from a given foreign mission, others will receive them in the mail, Chao said.

Chao added that some foreign representative offices and embassies have indicated that they plan to send their nationals in Taiwan a digital copy instead.

Asked whether Taiwan's more than 800,000 blue-collar foreign workers will be included, Chao said that "we will need to coordinate with the relevant authorities to explore additional distribution channels beyond embassies and representative offices in Taiwan" if the government pursues this in the future.

The All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency under the MND has released three editions of the handbook since 2022. The guide covers information ranging from go-bag preparation to survival tips during natural disasters and wartime emergencies.

The current edition has undergone a minor update since its release in September, adding information on precautionary measures related to barrier lakes. The revision follows the deadly overflow in September of the Matai'an Creek barrier lake in Hualien County.

In addition to hard copies, downloadable Chinese- and English-language electronic versions are also available.