# What is Taiwan’s Urban Resilience Exercise? What should I do when the siren sounds? Since 2025, Taiwan’s air raid drill has been part of the Urban Resilience Exercise. In 2026 it ran August 7–13 in five regions, 30 minutes each. The sirens, what to do, traffic rules, and fines. Published: 2026-09-30 · Last updated: 2026-09-30 · Shelter data: September 2026 edition, 98,028 shelters The Urban Resilience Exercise is Taiwan’s yearly nationwide air defense and disaster response drill. Since 2025 it has replaced the old Wan An air raid drill and the Min An disaster drill, and it’s run by the Ministry of National Defense’s All-out Defense Mobilization Agency. When the air raid siren sounds in your area, everyone there takes cover nearby and drivers pull over until the all-clear 30 minutes later. This page covers the dates, how to tell the sirens apart, what to do, and how Kuku 防災助手 can help you prepare. ## What is the Urban Resilience Exercise? On December 26, 2024, Taiwan’s president announced at the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee that from 2025, the Wan An air defense drill and the Min An disaster response drill would merge into the Urban Resilience Exercise. The goal is to test how well the civil defense and disaster response systems protect the public. It has two parts. The All-Out Defense Mobilization exercises rotate through a few cities and counties each year and practice disaster response and mobilization. The Air Defense exercises sound the sirens region by region across all 22 cities and counties. The air defense drill is the one most people run into. ## When were the 2026 air defense drills? In 2026 they ran in five regions, 30 minutes each: - August 7 (Fri), 10:00–10:30, south: Tainan City, Kaohsiung City, Pingtung County - August 10 (Mon), 14:30–15:00, central: Miaoli County, Taichung City, Nantou County, Changhua County, Yunlin County, Chiayi City, Chiayi County - August 11 (Tue), 13:30–14:00, outlying islands: Kinmen County, Lienchiang County (Matsu), Penghu County - August 12 (Wed), 13:30–14:00, east: Hualien County, Taitung County - August 13 (Thu), 14:30–15:00, north: Yilan County, Keelung City, Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County The first one was held July 15–18, 2025, also region by region. Each region also took 30 minutes, the same as the old Wan An drill. ## Have the 2027 dates been announced? Not yet. The 2026 regional dates were only announced at the end of July, less than two weeks before the first drill. The All-out Defense Mobilization Agency’s announcement is the one to follow. ## How can I tell the sirens apart? - Air raid alert: a 15-second long tone, then two 5-second short tones, with a 5-second pause between each. The whole pattern plays 3 times, 115 seconds in total. - All-clear: one long tone lasting 90 seconds. Loudspeaker vans call out the alert in Chinese instead: 緊急警報 (emergency alert), 飛彈襲擊警報 (missile attack alert), or 解除警報 (all-clear). You may also get a Public Warning System message on your phone. To hear the sirens ahead of time, the [disaster response page](https://prepare.mnd.gov.tw/emergency-responses) of the National Public Safety Guide plays both. The page is in Chinese, but the audio players work for anyone. Kuku can’t receive alerts, so go by the sirens, the phone alerts, and instructions on site. ## What should I do when the siren sounds? - Outdoors: go into the nearest building or basement, look for the air raid shelter (防空避難) sign, and follow the police and civil defense volunteers. - Indoors: stay inside, don’t go out, and follow the building staff. - Driving: pull over to the side of the road and wait until the drill ends. Traffic on highways keeps moving. - On public transport: trains and the MRT keep running, but you can’t leave an MRT station until the drill ends. The drill ends when you hear the all-clear. Local governments then practice relief and first-aid stations, but you can go about your day. ## What happens if I don’t follow the rules? Evacuation, sheltering, and traffic control during the drill are orders issued by the Ministry of National Defense under Article 21 of the Civil Defense Act. Under Article 25, anyone who breaks them can be fined NT$30,000 to NT$150,000. This applies to foreign residents too. Article 29 of the Civil Defense Act covers foreigners who live in Taiwan. ## Did the 2026 drill slow down the internet? Yes. In 2026, 14 cities and counties in central and northern Taiwan ran a mobile internet slowdown drill for the first time, during the same window as the air defense drill: 14:30–15:00 on August 10 and August 13. It wasn’t a shutdown. Calls, text messages, and messaging kept working, while video streaming, video calls, mobile payments, and cloud sync slowed down. Kuku keeps shelter data, the map, and walking routes for all 22 cities and counties on your phone, so it still works when the network is slow or down. ## What can I do before the drill? Use Kuku to find shelters near your home, work, and school, then walk to one on a normal day to see where the entrance is. [Where can I find a bomb shelter near me in Taiwan?](https://kuku.best/en/find-shelter/) shows how. Many shelters are basements of private buildings and may not be open on a normal day. [Can you go into an air-raid shelter on a normal day?](https://kuku.best/en/shelter-access/) explains why. While you’re at it, check your go-bag. The list is in [What should go in an emergency go-bag in Taiwan?](https://kuku.best/en/go-bag/) ## What is this page based on? It draws on the All-out Defense Mobilization Agency’s [English page on the 2026 air defense exercises](https://adma.mnd.gov.tw/uniten/100003/7439), plus these pages in Chinese: the agency’s [announcement of the merger](https://adma.mnd.gov.tw/unit/100008/7754) and [2026 schedule](https://adma.mnd.gov.tw/unit/100005/8182), the National Police Agency’s [2025 drill notice](https://www.moi.gov.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=4&s=329819), the Executive Yuan’s [mobile internet slowdown drill](https://www.ey.gov.tw/Page/448DE008087A1971/096fb808-f775-47cd-bca9-9f3916680f54), Article 9 of the [air defense exercise regulations](https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?pcode=F0070021&flno=9), and the [Civil Defense Act](https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0080118). For transport and the MRT, we also checked the American Institute in Taiwan’s [message for U.S. citizens](https://www.ait.org.tw/message-for-u-s-citizens-2026-urban-resilience-air-defense-exercises/). Dates and procedures can change each year, so official announcements come first. We last checked this page against them in September 2026. ## Please note Kuku 防災助手 is not a government service. In an emergency, follow government alerts and instructions on site. Kuku 防災助手 is an independently developed offline lookup tool. It can’t receive or push alerts. The data is for reference only. A shelter may have changed or may not be open, so check conditions on site before you set out. For a fire, an injury, or a crime, call 119 or 110. ## Related reading - [Which emergency apps should you install in Taiwan?](https://kuku.best/en/disaster-apps/) - [Where can I find a bomb shelter near me in Taiwan?](https://kuku.best/en/find-shelter/) - [What should go in an emergency go-bag in Taiwan?](https://kuku.best/en/go-bag/) - [Can you go into an air-raid shelter on a normal day?](https://kuku.best/en/shelter-access/) - [How many air-raid shelters does each Taiwan city and county have? (September 2026 edition)](https://kuku.best/en/shelters-by-county/) - [FAQ on the home page](https://kuku.best/en/#faq) --- HTML: https://kuku.best/en/air-raid-drill/