Taiwanese civil defense officials came to College Station in August 2002 to participate in weeklong emergency management workshop conducted by the Hazards Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M's College of Architecture.

In addition to the workshop at the college, the group visited emergency-related sites in Austin and San Antonio.

At the workshop, participants received training in hazard analysis process, vulnerability analysis, disaster planning, and emergency preparedness and response.

Carla Prater, an HRRC research scientist, said the program was significant because many of the Taiwanese visitors had not studied these concepts before.

"This was new to them, but at their jobs they are assigned these tasks," she said, "It was a crash course for them."

The relationship between A&M and Taiwan stems from contacts made during the NSF-funded HRRC study of the 1999 Taiwan earthquake. Texas A&M University and Taiwan also enjoy close ties through a Memoranda of Agreement between A&M and the National University of Taiwan.

The Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center is one of only two United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Collaborative Centers in the world. It serves the UNOCHA as a research and consultant agency with particular emphasis on national disaster plans and their implications for future development