As the megaphone thunders its voice across the entire school, “Earthquake, Earthquake!” students from all corners of the classroom scramble under their desks desperately looking for protection. These sporadic disaster simulations resemble basic survival lessons to the school body but at the same time, students see these drills as opportunities for rest. Earthquake drills are typically one to two minutes long, as the entire student and faculty body takes shelter under their desks. However, these drills are not wasted due to Taiwan’s frequent earthquakes. Taipei American School (TAS) takes all its disasters drills with stringent vigilance and precision.

Another disaster that TAS is aware of is fire. During fire drills students exit their rooms with complete silence in a single file. In addition, each room is designated a specific route to the upper and lower field where the students regroup. As soon as the initial siren seizes, students return back to their classes.

“Though students may see these tedious drills as a waste of time or even a window of opportunity, these acts of precaution will unquestionable benefit the school the long run”, said Evan Chang (11).

A hero in our midst

Mr. Wei-Kay Yeh, the AV technician of TAS, was in Japan as a part of the Taiwanese Search and Rescue team. On Friday afternoon, he was asked to assist victims in the recent earthquake/tsunami that occurred. After awaiting clearance from the Japanese government, he flew into Tokyo on Saturday morning. Mr. Yeh has been training with the team since last year, while also being a member of the Taiwanese national military. The team was in Japan for 10 days, assisting where help was needed the most. His duty was emotionally and physically challenging, and for that, we salute him.