Today is not only Mid-Autumn Festival, but also the anniversary of the devastating Jiji earthquake. Twenty two years on, the Central Weather Bureau shared lessons learned from the tragedy that shook the nation. In the wake of the disaster in 1999, experts worked together to overhaul laws and build detection systems. Today Taiwan has the ability to warn its people just 10 seconds after an earthquake begins.

It was 22 years ago today. A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Nantou, killing 2,400 people and toppling tens of thousands of buildings. This year, the anniversary of the Jiji earthquake coincided with Mid-Autumn Festival. On social media, the Central Weather Bureau posted its earthquake report from 1999.

The CWB said the devastation sparked an overhaul of laws and regulations, as well as disaster warning systems. One outcome of the effort to prevent future tragedies was a national early warning system for earthquakes.

Wu Yih-min
NTU''s Department of Geosciences
Here at National Taiwan University, we developed a land-based early warning system. For people who live closer to the earthquake''s epicenter, our land-based warning system is activated first. For people far from the epicenter, the CWB''s regional early warning system is activated first.

Since the Jiji earthquake, Taiwan''s seismic monitoring has improved by leaps and bounds, in terms of sensor density, processing technologies, and even its instruments.

According to the CWB, today''s monitoring network can issue warnings just 10 seconds after an earthquake begins. The CWB plans to gradually add monitoring stations and optimize the network structure, to further improve early warnings for urban areas. The goal is to give city dwellers up to three extra seconds to respond to an earthquake.

Scholars say that public awareness is also important for reducing the impact of natural disasters.

Wu Yih-min
NTU''s Department of Geosciences
Although you can give people additional response time by issuing warnings earlier, in reality, public education plays a very important role in disaster risk reduction. For example, much of the devastation caused by earthquakes happens when buildings collapse. In the future, when people purchase homes, they should choose earthquake-resistant designs. If people put that factor into consideration, damage from future earthquakes would be mitigated.

In the event of an earthquake, experts advise the three steps of "drop, cover, and hold on." They say the drill should be routinely rehearsed, so that it''s second nature in times of emergency.