Why Can Work and School Be Suspended During Typhoons? What You Take for Granted Was a Tragic Price Paid 25 Years Ago

As powerful Typhoon Bavi approaches Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau issued a maritime typhoon alert this afternoon (9th). The typhoon is expected to come closest to Taiwan from Friday evening (10th) through Saturday (11th), making the decision on work and school suspension a nationwide concern.

The public commonly refers to work and school closures during natural disasters as "typhoon holidays," but under current regulations, this is not an official leave category. Although the legal framework for this system existed before Typhoon Toraji hit Taiwan 25 years ago, the tragic death of Hsu Pi-lan, a teacher at Chingshan Elementary School, during student safety patrol prompted society to reexamine campus safety, commuting risks, and decision-making processes for suspending operations during typhoons.

Why can work and school be suspended during typhoons? A teacher’s tragic death 25 years ago led to a reevaluation of the policy.

This system, deeply tied to public life, traces its origins back to July 30, 2001 (Minguo Year 90). At that time, Typhoon Toraji struck Taiwan, causing severe damage across multiple regions.

Hsu Pi-lan, a teacher at Chingshan Elementary School in Changhua County, was on duty assisting students with safe dismissal when heavy rainfall caused the water level in a nearby drainage ditch along Yuanshui Road to rise rapidly within an hour. Floodwaters overflowed, submerging surrounding areas. While protecting students, Hsu slipped and fell into the drainage channel, was swept away by the strong current, and tragically died.

This tragedy served as a painful catalyst, compelling the government to reevaluate the importance of work and school suspension policies during typhoons.

How did the teacher’s death impact typhoon leave policy?

Hsu Pi-lan’s sacrifice to protect her students drew significant attention from the government at the time. Then-President Chen Shui-bian personally paid respects at her memorial, expressing the government’s deep sorrow and recognition of the incident.

Following the event, the government began reconsidering whether more comprehensive measures should be implemented during typhoons to reduce public exposure to risks. In fact, Typhoon Toraji also claimed the lives of several public servants, including firefighter Li Chi-yung from Taichung County and police officer Lin Te-fu from Guangfu Township, Hualien.

A series of such line-of-duty deaths prompted Taiwan to gradually establish a more comprehensive and clearly defined mechanism for suspending work and school during typhoons and other natural disasters.

What is the official name of "typhoon holiday"?

While the public commonly uses the term "typhoon holiday," current regulations do not classify it as a formal leave type. In 2013, the Executive Yuan's Personnel Administration Bureau advocated using the term "disaster prevention leave" (zai-fang-jia) to emphasize that the purpose of suspending work and school is disaster prevention, not regular vacation.

According to the current "Regulations on Suspending Work and School During Natural Disasters," when regions are affected by windstorms, floods, earthquakes, landslides, or other natural disasters, local city and county governments make decisions on suspending work and school based on comprehensive assessments of wind speed, rainfall, transportation, and actual disaster conditions.

The establishment of this system reflects the government’s commitment to protecting the lives of students and the general public, striving through institutional improvements to prevent tragedies like the one 25 years ago from recurring.