Taiwan puts 20,000 troops on typhoon standby and sends marine amphibious vehicles to Suao

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense opened its disaster response centre at level one, the highest setting, on Thursday 22 October and put about 20,000 troops on standby as Typhoon Champi approached the island. The ministry said units had also readied some 3,000 vehicles and pieces of equipment in 35 categories, including AAV7 amphibious assault vehicles and rubber boats, according to a ministry statement reported by BigMedia.

After activating the centre, the ministry held a control meeting and told each of its theatre commands to work with local governments, keep close track of the storm and of areas at risk of floods and landslides, and plan where troops and equipment should be placed in advance. Forces and machinery are being prepositioned in disaster-prone and low-lying areas so that rescues can start without delay, the ministry said. Military hospitals have also formed emergency medical teams that can be sent out when needed.

The ministry added that it would follow the typhoon's track and stay in close contact with central and local authorities, and that all preparations would be carried out on the condition that the safety of its own personnel is protected.

The most visible deployment so far is in Suao, a port township in Yilan County on the northeast coast. Liberty Times reported that the township's disaster response centre asked the military for help because Suao was badly flooded when Typhoon Fung-wong struck in November last year. In response, the Marine Corps sent two AAV-7 amphibious assault vehicles, two rescue rubber boats and 15 personnel, who took up position at the township office on the afternoon of 22 October.

The force came from two units. The Taipei-based 66th Marine Brigade provided the two rubber boats and seven marines, while the Marine Corps amphibious vehicle battalion based at Zuoying in Kaohsiung sent the two AAV-7s with eight crew, Liberty Times said. The Military News Agency, the defence ministry's own news service, described the move as a 66th Marine Brigade deployment and said the brigade received its orders that day under the military's principle of deploying early and prepositioning forces, and that its personnel moved the vehicles and checked their equipment in wind and rain after reaching the standby position.

Both the Military News Agency and the Central News Agency said the vehicles' task is to help the local government carry out precautionary evacuations if conditions worsen. Suao mayor Lee Ming-che said the township had prepared 1,500 sandbags for residents, limited to 10 per household, and set up an evacuation shelter on the third floor of the township office, Liberty Times reported.

TVBS reported that the Central Weather Administration did not expect Champi to make landfall, but that its storm circle would hit Yilan directly. Forecasters projected average winds of force 9 or more in the county on 23 October, with gusts above force 11, and total rainfall of 400 to 600 millimetres on the plains and up to 900 millimetres in the mountains.

Disaster relief is a standing mission for Taiwan's armed forces alongside combat training. A standby force of about 20,000 troops and 3,000 vehicles, held ready across several theatre commands while the storm passes, shows how much of the military's manpower and heavy equipment a single major typhoon can tie up.