After an on-site earthquake early warning system was set off, the students in the second floor immediately crouched under their desks.

Being situated in the Pacific-Rim earthquake belt, the threat of earthquakes is part of day-to-day life in Taiwan. The documented record reveals that devastating earthquakes occur in Taiwan every 15 to 20 years since 1736, which poses serious challenge to the society at large. Unfortunately, earthquake is not as predictable as typhoon. At present, however, several countries have on-site earthquake early warning system (EEWS) in operation to protect its people and economies. 

After an on-site earthquake early warning system was set off, the students in the ground floor quickly evacuated through the pre-designated route.

The EEWS employs sensors that pick up the fast-moving and less destructive primary waves (P-waves) produced by an earthquake and transmits a warning broadcast on public broadcasting system, radio and/or television before the destructive secondary waves (S-waves) arrive, giving recipients of the message precious seconds to seek shelter. The system gives people as much as tens of seconds warning before an earthquake occurs in places far from the epicenter. Japan’s nationwide online EEWS launched in 2007 has significantly helped mitigate the catastrophic impact of the 311 earthquake in 2011.

Begun in 2008, the NARL’s National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) has been collaborating with the nation’s meteorological research and forecasting institution, the Central Weather Bureau, and the NARL’s two other centers—National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) and National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) to develop the on-site EEWS. From this concerted effort, Taiwan's very first on-site EEWS that features built-in automatic disaster reduction functions has been unveiled last April. This smart warning system is bound to provide the people precious seconds to seek protection.

After the earthquake, head count and triage of the wounded were conducted.

The Meishan fault, with a length of 25 km stretching through Chiayi County (lat. 23.54°, long. 120.70°) in Taiwan, is an active fault that has great likelihood of dislocation thus high potential earthquake probability, meaning another earthquake sometime in the future. Recently, the NARL-NCREE has installed the on-site EEWS at Gang Ping Elementary School and National Chung Cheng University, both located in Chiayi County. In this connection, the NARL-NCREE has jointly organized an earthquake drill at Gang Ping Elementary School with Chiayi City Government. When the simulated P-waves arrived, the on-site EEWS was set off, and the students and staff were alerted by a loud broadcasting system and subtitles in the closed-circuit television. Before the S-waves would arrive in 11 seconds after, the students and staff in the second floor or above crouched under their desks, tables or the door jamb, and those in the ground floor evacuated the school buildings through pre-determined safe routes. After the earthquake, the students and staff assembled in order in a safe area away from buildings for head count and triage of the wounded. After the drill, the NARL-NCREE also presented other earthquake disaster education materials and models to the students and staff. The very event was not only to educate the students but also to remind the public about how to respond to a large earthquake in Chiayi County.