TAIPEI (TVBS News) — A confusing emergency alert during Taipei and New Taipei City's first joint metro attacker drill Thursday (Feb. 5) caused public alarm after failing to mention the exercise was a simulation. The New Taipei City Fire Department confirmed the alert error. Hsiao Li-kai (蕭力愷), chief of the preparedness and response section, acknowledged the initial message lacked the word "drill," calling it a "cognitive gap."
The drill began at 1:30 p.m. at Taipei's Daqiaotou Station (大橋頭站) and New Taipei's Sanchong Elementary School Station (三重國小站) on the Taipei Metro system. The exercise aimed to enhance emergency response capabilities of the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (台北捷運公司), the operator of Taipei's metro system, in handling sudden security incidents.
The simulation involved assailants entering metro stations and train carriages to attack passengers and take hostages. Taipei City's special forces eventually neutralized the simulated threat by deploying a stun grenade.
Confusion arose when citizens received a Public Warning Cell Broadcast Service message stating there was an attack without indicating it was a drill. Many residents mistakenly believed a major security incident had occurred at Sanchong Elementary School Station in New Taipei City. The New Taipei City Government quickly issued a second message clarifying the situation was an exercise to prevent further panic among the public.