Taipei Metro, bus station to stage drill, send emergency alerts Friday afternoon

Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) MRT Taipei City Hall Station and Taipei City Hall Bus Station will stage a joint drill at 1 p.m. Friday, simulating a gasoline-bomb attack and an indiscriminate assault, with emergency alerts sent to the public via cellphone messages.

The exercise is intended to raise public security awareness and strengthen coordination among response teams and support units in dealing with major violent incidents, according to Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安).

Under the plan by the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp. (TRTC), the exercise will be conducted in three stages, beginning with a simulated gasoline-bomb attack by an assailant at MRT Taipei City Hall Station, followed by an indiscriminate assault at Taipei City Hall Bus Station, and concluding with a mass-casualty response outside Exit 2 of the metro station.

The city government said cellphone alerts will be sent out in Chinese and English, headed "Drill" and "Test" to indicate a simulated major emergency. Recipients are advised not to panic or take any action, it said.

TRTC also said that at the end of January it will hold a similar drill, simulating multiple assailants carrying out attacks at Taipei Main Station, which is served by Taiwan Railway, Taiwan High Speed Rail and Taipei Metro.

A third exercise will be conducted just before the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Feb. 14, with New Taipei Metro simulating wider attacks by multiple assailants at stations in the Greater Taipei area, TRTC said without providing an exact date.