Taiwan has launched a new intergovernmental disaster management alliance that brings governments and emergency response agencies together for joint training, exercises, operations, and information sharing.
The World Alliance for Disaster Management, or WADM, was formally established in Taipei on Sept. 19 with 13 founding members, 17 observers, and 11 partners. Taiwan, its 11 diplomatic allies, and Somaliland make up the founding group.
Government agencies and disaster response organizations from 21 countries—including the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Turkey, and the Philippines—are participating as observers or partners. The director of the American Institute in Taiwan, Raymond Greene, attended the launch.
The alliance was launched at the opening of Taiwan’s “Resilient Taiwan for Sustainable Democracy” forum, where officials linked disaster preparedness and civil resilience with protecting democratic society during crises.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said WADM will connect governments and disaster management organizations across borders, with cooperation extending from early warning through emergency response and recovery.
“We will be rolling out joint training and joint exercises as well as mutual assistance and information sharing,” Lai said at the forum opening.
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Palau Vice President and Health Minister Raynold Oilouch and Eswatini Deputy Prime Minister Thulisile Dladla led delegations to Taiwan for the launch.
In a Sept. 19 statement, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said WADM is the first intergovernmental organization that Taiwan has initiated in 55 years.
Earthquakes, Rescue Missions
Taiwan sits in an earthquake- and typhoon-prone region, and its emergency response system has repeatedly been tested at home.
When a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Hualien on April 3, 2024—the strongest to hit Taiwan in 25 years—the National Fire Agency activated the Central Emergency Operations Center and began moving specialist teams toward the disaster area.
The quake struck at 7:58 a.m.; by 8:30 a.m., rescue personnel from northern, central, and Hualien bases were working with the National Airborne Service Corps on reconnaissance and rescue operations.
Military transport aircraft and government helicopters later carried 77 specialist rescuers and five search dogs from southern Taiwan to Hualien as roads and rail links were disrupted.
Rescue teams also deployed low-orbit satellite communications where normal networks were unavailable and used drones to collect images of damaged areas.
Taiwan has also deployed those capabilities abroad.
After devastating earthquakes struck Turkey in February 2023, Taiwan sent 130 search-and-rescue personnel and five dogs.
Then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen poses for a group photo with members of the Taiwan search-and-rescue team deployed to the Turkey earthquake response effort in 2023. Courtesy of Taiwan Presidential Office
Taiwan’s team became the first international search-and-rescue team to reach badly damaged Adıyaman province. A June 19, 2023, Interior Ministry account said the team arrived before the U.S. contingent and helped establish a sector coordination center for international rescue operations.
The deployment also placed Taiwan’s rescuers inside a U.N.-coordinated international response system. Taiwan’s Presidential Office said it was the first time one of its teams had reported to a U.N. Reception/Departure Center and been listed among teams coordinated through the international mechanism.
At a Sept. 18 welcome dinner for WADM delegations, Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang said Taiwan’s repeated experience with earthquakes, typhoons, heavy rain, landslides, and other hazards had driven the development of its early-warning, rescue, medical, and recovery systems.
At the same dinner, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said Taiwan plans to contribute technology to WADM, including artificial intelligence, satellite applications, unmanned systems, communications technology, and smart manufacturing.
Speaking after arriving in Taiwan on Sept. 17, Palau Vice President and Health Minister Raynold Oilouch said his country was “honored to be a founding member” and hoped the alliance would expand exchanges of disaster-management information and experience.
Training Hub in Central Taiwan
Taiwan plans to use its National Fire Agency training center in Zhushan Township as a major hub for WADM cooperation.
At the Sept. 19 forum opening, Lai described it as the largest fire-and-rescue training center in Asia and the third largest in the world. He said shared training standards could give participating countries “a shared professional language” for disaster response.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te poses for a group photo with participants in the 2026 Resilient Taiwan for Sustainable Democracy International Forum in Taipei. Courtesy of Taiwan Presidential Office
In a Sept. 20 report on a visit to the center by WADM delegations, the National Fire Agency said the facility already conducts joint training with the Philippines, Fiji, and Timor-Leste and has sent instructors to Sri Lanka through cooperation with the Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management.
The center is also adopting standards from the U.S.-based National Fire Protection Association and planning new flood and swift-water rescue facilities and a full-scale 40-megawatt fire-testing laboratory.
National Fire Agency Director General Hsiao Huan-chang said the agency intends to develop the center into an important disaster preparedness training base for the Indo-Pacific.