Taiwan is deepening its civil defense ties with Europe, a move aimed at making the island better prepared for disasters and for war.

• Forward Alliance, founded by Enoch Wu, has partnered with European civil protection network Samaritan International for an ongoing Taiwan-Europe resilience exchange.
• The European group spans 23 member organizations across 21 countries, with 150,000 volunteers and 3 million members, bringing experience coordinating across borders and agencies.
• Training will cover water rescue, clean water and sanitation, and setting up and running shelters, with instructor courses planned for next year.
• Taiwan's side runs a drill or training session every month so that emergency coordination becomes routine rather than an annual awareness day.
• Volunteer response follows an "all-hazards" approach, meaning war counts too, since the basic skills of handling casualties, broken infrastructure, and supply distribution are the same whatever the cause.

Outlook: Monthly joint training and a new instructor program should steadily widen Taiwan's pool of trained civilian responders over the next year.