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The Second Meeting of the Steering Committee of the APEC Earthquake Response Cooperation Program on Energy Supply Systems

September 4, 2001
Chinese Taipei

Introduction

The second meeting of the Steering Committee of the APEC Earthquake Response
Cooperation Program on Energy Supply Systems was held on September 4, 2001 in Taipei,
Chinese Taipei. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Shih-Ming Chuang, Division Director of the Energy Commission, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Chinese Taipei. Attendees included
representatives from Australia, China and New Zealand as well as Chinese Taipei.

Members of the Steering Committee:

Opening Remarks

The meeting started with a welcome address by the Chairman, Mr. Shih-Ming Chuang, Division Director of the Energy Commission, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Chinese Taipei. He thanked the committee members for attending the meeting and gave the new committee member – Mr. Qin He from China – and the attendants from Chinese Taipei an opportunity to introduce themselves. The Chairman outlined the procedure for the meeting. Finally, the Chairman said he looked forward to a fruitful exchange of opinions and expressed optimism that the second meeting would follow the first meeting in leading to successful achievements.

Briefing on Adopted Conclusions of the First Meeting and Agenda for the Second Meeting

Ms. Ching-Hwa Meng of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Chinese Taipei presented the adopted conclusions of the 1st Steering Committee Meeting and introduced the Agenda of the 2nd Steering Committee Meeting. The adopted conclusions included the project schedule and deliverables, seminar program, topics and speakers, contributions from participants, and the date of Second Steering Committee Meeting.

Report on Seminar Organization

Ms. Ching-Hwa Meng presented a report on the organization of the APEC Seminar on Earthquake Disaster Management of Energy Supply Systems. The report outlined the seminar’s purpose, date, venue, and participants and then introduced the seminar agenda, speakers and foreign participants, the two site visits, banquets, documents relating to the forum, the registration procedures, and the conference room lay out.

Introduction to the Website of the APEC Earthquake Response Cooperation Program on Energy Supply Systems

Mr. Teh-Chuan Sung of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Chinese Taipei presented the introduction to the Website. He described the functions of the Website (including providing a platform for sharing experiences, guidelines and documents and for communication and discussion), its structure, current progress and future work to enhance the Website. Mr. Sung expressed hope that the Website will facilitate enhanced communication between APEC member economies. Although the structure of the Website is now almost complete and some content has been uploaded to it, continuing efforts are needed to enrich it, Mr. Sung said. He particularly asked for assistance in creating links to other relevant sites. Mr. Sung then demonstrated the Website and showed some of the seminar documents and the links that can already be accessed on it.

Briefing on the Content of the Project Report

Dr. Jhy-Ming Lu presented an introduction to the contents of the project report. He gave an overview of the sections prepared by Chinese Taipei. These include the following sections: Introduction; Institutional Framework for Emergency Response of Energy Supply System; Past Earthquake Experiences Related to Energy Supply Infrastructure; Earthquake Risk Assessment; Earthquake Preparedness and Response Planning. He expressed hope that members of the steering committee can discuss the contents and provide more suggestions for the project report.

Briefing on the Component, Schedule and Objectives of the Second and Third Phases of the Project

Dr Jyuung-Shiauu Chern of Energy Commission, Chinese Taipei presented an introduction to Phases 2 and 3 of the APEC Earthquake Response Cooperation Program on Energy Supply Systems. He described the project objectives, components and timelines (including scheduling of group and committee meetings and the seminar) for Phase 2 of the program. The emphases of Phase 2 are on the technical and regulatory aspects of earthquake response for energy infrastructures as a way to boost APEC member economies’ capabilities in earthquake disaster management. Member economies can focus, for example, on discussing and sharing information on the construction and design guidelines of pipelines or transmission towers. Dr. Chern then outlined the key components of Phase 3. As in Phase 1, the project report and the seminar are two essential deliverables for Phase 2 and Phase 3. Dr. Chern said Chinese Taipei would like to know whether other member economies are interested in hosting the Phase 2 seminar. If no other economy is willing, Chinese Taipei will act as host, he said. He suggested potential topics for the next seminar.

Discussion and Conclusions

1. Seminar Organization

Committee members expressed thanks for those involved in organizing the meeting and the seminar, and looked forward to practical results from the seminar. Mr. Allan Gillespie, Australian representative, conveyed that there would be more involvement from Australia in Phase 2 of the project.

2. Website

Several issues were raised regarding the Website. Mr. Tan Pham, New Zealand representative, emphasized the importance of identifying the potential users of the Website and their needs. In response to that, committee members proposed potential users of the Website as:

- General public
- Power companies (generation, transmission, distribution)
- Petroleum companies
- Gas companies
- Government agencies
- Research institutes
- Education institutions (academics and students)
- Nuclear power stations
- Standards and codes organizations
- Gas stations
- Engineers
- Emergency response agencies (incl. research & rescue)
- Transportation groups e.g. railways
- Communication
- Other utilities (e.g. water supply)
- Businesses
- Equipment manufacturers

Dr. Tsai of Chinese Taipei expressed that in the future the Website could devote more attention to increasing the Website’s accessibility to the public. New Zealand also mentioned that practical information on what individuals should do in their homes to prepare for possible earthquake should be on the Website. Australia added that a household checklist would also help engage the public and draw more attention to the Website.

The attendant from Taiwan Power Company expressed that, as a company, Taipower would be interested in sharing and acquiring information on quick systems recovery and on how best to keep energy systems operating after an earthquake.

New Zealand noted that one potential group of Website users would be equipment manufacturers. The Website could provide a swift channel for communication with manufacturers and suppliers after a major earthquake.

Furthermore, New Zealand also argued that it is necessary to have an appropriate Website name that will be picked up easily by Internet search engines. The following are names nominated by committee members:

- Earthquake help
- Earthquake and energy supplies
- Earthquake lifelines
- Earthquake-electricity-gas-petroleum
- Earthquake energy response

Above names containing several key words such as “earthquake” and “electricity” would help the page be picked up at the top of lists by search engines. Australia further suggested the above names (and the list of intended users) be taken to an Internet consultant for advice.

Additionally, Dr. Lu mentioned the name of the Website should contain the word APEC and the need to follow APEC guidelines on websites.

Currently, the Website is still under development and has been temporarily set up by ITRI. Chinese Taipei expressed hope that the Website would in the future be connected to relevant APEC Websites and requested committee members to promote it to related earthquake or lifeline engineering websites for linkage. Australia expressed willingness to establish a link to the Electricity Supply Association Website.

Australia hoped the Website would increase awareness of the importance of designing infrastructure to prepare for earthquakes. The Website could help spread awareness and knowledge of the experiences of the APEC member economies, he said.

New Zealand mentioned the Website presented a unique opportunity for Chinese Taipei to play a leadership role in APEC. When earthquakes occurred elsewhere, for instance, Chinese Taipei could take the lead in collecting information and publish it on the Website.

The Chairman noted that when Taiwan was facing power shortages after the Chi-Chi earthquake, suggestions were made that help be sought from abroad. Experiences such as these are behind the desire to facilitate cooperation. He pointed out information and contact details for such post-disaster cases should be accessible through the Website.

Mr Qin He from China proposed an idea of each member economy appointing a liaison person and having one chief liaison officer with responsibility for drafting guidelines for Website development. It was agreed that this would be brought up with the EWG.

3. Project Report

Chinese Taipei hopes to augment Section 5 “Earthquake Preparedness and Response Planning” by reviewing the plans of energy suppliers in other APEC economies and expressed hope that members of the Steering Committee could provide such information for the project report. For the contents of the report, there are no comments from committee members.

4. Cooperation mechanism

New Zealand mentioned a prime goal of the project should be to make economies of scale by pooling resources and abilities. Dr. Lu of Chinese Taipei suggested a cooperation mechanism should cover contact points, channels and processes for asking for cooperation.

With the aim to achieve the aim of encouraging more participation, Committee members agreed that a suggestion should be proposed to APEC of setting up an earthquake energy supply cooperative mechanism, through which APEC member economies can sign up to join and contribute information about earthquake response of energy supply systems from their own economies, and also encourage energy/power suppliers such as Taipower of Chinese Taipei to join.

5. Hosting Phase 2 Seminar

It is agreed that the issue of inquiring interested economy for hosting the Seminar of Phase 2 to be raised in the EWG 22 meeting. Chinese Taipei will take the responsibility to hold the Seminar if no positive response from other member economies.

6. Date for the third steering meeting and the seminar

Considering the availability of potential speakers and participants during the summer, it is agreed that the Seminar of the Phase 2 to be held on September 2002.

Since the proposal for Phase 3 of the program needs to be drafted and circulated to all APEC member economies before being submitted to the EWG meeting to be endorsed, Committee members thus agreed that a telephone/video conference would be held in March 2002 to review the draft proposal. If no other member economy offers to act as host, the third steering committee meeting will be held in Chinese Taipei in September 2002 alongside the seminar.

7. Themes of the seminar of Phase 2

Theme of “Earthquake potential hazard assessment for energy supply infrastructure” for the Phase 2 seminar should change to “cooperative mechanism”.

Closing Remarks

The Chairman thanked the participants for their generous assistance by participating in this meeting.

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