Safe Community Alishan

Country: China (Province of Taiwan)
Number of inhabitants: 1,536
Programme started year: July 2002
International Safe Communities Network Membership: Designation year: 2005
Info address on www for the Programme:
www.cych.org.tw/cych/alishan/index.htm
Info address: www.cych.org.tw/cych/alishan/index.htm

The programme covers the following safety promotion activities:

For the age group
Children 0-14 years:
Youth 15-24 years:
Adults 25-64 years:
Elderly 65+ years:

At the following environments:

Home:

Home Power System Check and Improvement
The aboriginal people often followed their tribal tradition to build houses by themselves. Unless the home power systems were extremely difficult to install, only in those cases, they would hire local electricians to do the job, otherwise they simply do it all by themselves. Therefore it resulted in a lot of potential hazard. For example, there was once a terrible incident in the Hsin-Mei Village, wherein one entire block of houses, church, and gathering hall were all burned down.
To eliminate such potential risks, protect the high-risk groups and environments, as well as to promote safety for the vulnerable groups, the promotion committee specifically implements the S3 Village power system check and improvement Project.

Traffic:
Road Safety Signs and Tourist Safety Brochures
The mountain roads curve a lot and there are quite a few sections lit poorly. Because of the unstable geological conditions, falling stones or mudflows occur from time to time. Furthermore, two-lane roads occasionally turned into one-lane because of landslides or other trouble circumstances. For tourists, unfamiliar with the mountain roads conditions, it is especially dangerous. Furthermore, once for a while, injuries would result from weather factors or the mountain animals and Projects.
Therefore, the Tourism & Transportation Section jointed with the community’s leaders, the Chai-Yi County Government’s Bureau of Transportation as well as the Alishan National Scenic Area Administration Office to discus and consult with each other. In the end, they set forth the Alishan Road Safety Improvement Project and the Tourist Safety Brochure Project. After several field investigations, they have established many safety measures.

Total Mobilization of Safety Helmet for All
Accident is the top leading cause of death among mountain area residents. The majority of the cases are motorcycle accident-related head wound; especially motorcyclists fell by themselves, while wearing neither helmet nor any sort of safety protection at all. It is quite different from those of the plain area, wherein crashing onto other motorcycle or vehicle caused most of the cases. One thing needs to bring attention onto is that the majority of the wounded have not worn safety helmet. Although, in 1997, the authorities concerned in China (Province of Taiwan) have put into effect with the compulsory traffic regulation, forcing all motorcycle riders to wear safety helmet, it turned out to be extremely difficult for the aborigines to comply with this kind of regulation imposed from the external culture.
Therefore, the Alishan Safe Community Committee brought forth the Project, “Total Mobilization Project of Safety Helmet for All.” The Project’s vision is that, through internalization amongst the community residents to begin with, it would eventually become the residents’ second nature so as to be willing to wear safety helmet by and for themselves. Once the concept is achieved, the enforcement or punishment of compulsory traffic regulation won’t be necessary any longer.

Occupational:
Farming Machinery and Safe Use Pesticide
Since the S3 Villages’ residents live by agriculture primarily, they use farming machines and tools pretty frequently. Without correct safety awareness and proper maintenance, all kinds of injuries could happen to them from time to time. For example, while at work, one blade in certain machine or tool broke and shut off the calf; branch bounced back and hurt the eye, and the like. According to the Alishan Safe Community’s statistics on accidental causalities, injuries related to farming machines or tools make up 34.8% of all cases; agricultural chemicals (poisoning) related injures accounts for 23.2%. To add together the two categories, the figure would reach as high as 58% of all injuries.
To reduce these kinds of injuries to the lowest degree, the Occupation Safety Section set up a study visit to the Dungshr Township, which has long been establishing itself as a model regarding agricultural safety. After the visit, the Section jointed with the Alishan Farmers’ Association and National Chai-Yi University as to set forth certain training programs on safety and maintenance issues regarding the handlings of farming machines, tools and agricultural chemicals.

School:
Safe School
In the community, there are only elementary schools and their affiliated preschools, taking in schoolchildren of 3-12 years old. Safety education should start from childhood. This is the consensus of all the School Safety Section’s members.
Campus playgrounds are high-risk places where most accidents take place. Mostly, accidents happen to schoolchildren during recess, when they use the game facilities. The community residents sometimes borrow the schools’ spaces to held events. Because there are no warning signs or notices of any sort instructing people how to properly deal with the campus facilities or equipments, injuries could happen from time to time due to mishandlings.
To strengthen campus safety, the School Safety Section first consulted upon the local Community Development Association, and then set forth the School Safety Project with the joint contributions from several organizations or individuals as follows: Chai-Yi County Government’s Department of Education, National Chai-Yi University’s Department of Business Administration and the Alishan Township’s council-persons.

Sports:

Leisure:

Tourism Safety Improvements in the Tanayiku Natural Conservatory Area
In these years, the S3 Villages have become tourists’ favor. It is mainly because the villagers successfully carried out the conservation of the endangered kole-balai fish. Nowadays, tourists showed up abundantly to watch schools of the kole-balai blissfully swimming in the wild stream. Even in the off-weekend days, there are still a variety of institutions, groups, and schools pouring into this conservatory area.
However, because the area was located at the remote mountain area, both the quantity and quality of safety information and equipments are not quite enough to meet the tourists’ huge demands. Therefore, the need to strengthen the public safety-related services is very urgent.

Safe Bed & Breakfast (B&B) Services
Since the Alishan Safe Community is located in remote mountain area and depends upon tourism as its primary economic resource, the development of B&Bs is getting more and more popular. Over the years, S3 Villages have gradually become well known for tourism. Tourists frequently visit the three Villages. At present, in the community there are 16 B&B together, and 20 restaurants or eateries approximately.
To enable visitors to enjoy high quality of tourism in terms of safety and food hygiene, the Tourism & Transportation Section of the Alishan Safe Community Committee called together the Cha-Shan Village’s chief, the Community Development Association’s director and general coordinator, to set forth the safety Project for B&B services.

Violence prevention:
Suicide prevention:

Programs aiming at ”High risk-groups”: Yes

Surveillance of injuries:
The data collection is mainly from mountain area clinics’ medical services records and local police sub-stations’ accident records.
Numbers per year:
Population base: 1,536
Started year: July 2002

Publications:
Download the application report:
Alishan Application to Become a Member of the Safe Community Network

Produced information material, pamphlets: Yes

Staff

Number: 5
Professions: part-time or full-time: 5
Organization: Chai-Yi Christian Hospital
Specific intersectoral leadership group: Chai-Yi County Government,
Alishan Township Office

Study visits: No

Participation in Safe Community conferences:
1. 12th International Conference on Safe Communities, Hong Kong, March 2003
2. 1st International Conference on Safe School, Czech Republic, May 2004
3. 7th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, Austria, June 2004

Hosting Safe Community Conferences:
Assisting 3rd Asian Regional Conference on Safe Communities 19-22 October 2005
Hosting ”Travelling Seminars”: No

For further information contact:
Lin, Moa-An (David)
Chai-Yi Christian Hospital
No. 539, Zhong-Chaio Road
Chai-Yi City 600
China Province of Taiwan
Phone: +886 5 285 2698 #222
Fax: +886 5 285 2928
E-mail: d052@cych.org.tw ; luivy0506@yahoo.com.tw