Taiwan Readies Its Air-Raid Shelters Amid Tensions With China

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Taiwan is preparing for air strikes due to the increase in tensions with the Chinese and Russian invasion of Ukraine to cause new concerns about the possibility of Chinese attacks on the Democratic island.

China considers Taiwan in its territory and has increased military activity in the air and sea around it. Taiwan vowed to defend himself and had made the strengthening of his defense as a priority, with military exercises and regular civilian defense.

The preparation includes referring to a shelter where people can take shelter if Chinese missiles start flying, not in a special built bunker but in basement such as car park, subway systems and underground shopping centers.

The capital of Taipei has more than 4,600 shelters that can accommodate around 12 million people, more than four times the population.

Harmony Wu, 18, was surprised to know that an underground shopping place where he and other children recently practiced several dance movements would be converted into air strike shelters in the event of a war.

Having a shelter is very necessary. We don’t know when the war will come and they have to keep us safe,” Wu said at the Taipei subway station

Taipei officials have updated the designated database of the designated shelter, putting their existence in the smartphone application and launched a social media and poster campaign to ensure people know how to find the closest.

The entrance to the shelter is marked with a yellow label, the size of A4 paper, with a maximum number of people that can be taken.

A senior official at the city office responsible for the shelter said the events in Europe had brought a new sense of urgency.

Look at the war in Ukraine,” Abercrombie Yang, a Director of the Building Administration Office, told Reuters.

There is no guarantee that the innocent public will not be beaten,” he said, adding that that was why the public must be told.

All citizens must have a crisis awareness … we need a shelter in the event of an attack by the Chinese communist.

Last month, Taiwan held a comprehensive air strike exercise throughout the island for the first time since Pandemi Coronavirus interfered with regular training.

Among the instructions obtained by residents if the missiles that enter are down in the parking lot of their basement with their hands covering their eyes and ears while keeping their mouths open – to minimize the impact of the waves of the explosion.

The authorities are required by the law to keep the shelter clean and open but they do not have to be filled with supplies such as food and water.

Wu Enoch from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party said that people must prepare a survival kit to be brought with them when they look for shelter.

What’s important is what you carry, so that people live there for a long time,” Wu said, quoting medical supplies and even tools to build emergency toilets.

After the decade won the sword across the Taiwan Strait which separated the Democratic island from China, many Taiwan seemed to resign to live with the threat of Chinese invasion.

I am not stressed. I continued my life as usual. When that happened, it happened,” said Teresa Chang, 17, who also went through his steps in underground dance training.