the only time when the city is drawn to a silent halt...

Every so often...or actually, every so many years now since WWII *edit: it's every year*, throughout Taiwan there is an air raid exercise. One occured today in Taipei at 1:30pm, just a few minutes ago. It is a military exercise to warn citizens of sneak attacks, bombs, etc. At 1pm in the museum was an announcement on the intercom about it. I couldn't really comprehend what the lady was saying--it was all in Chinese. All I heard was "....1:30pm", and it sounded quite serious. And then loud, deafening sirens go off at exactly 1:30. One of the anthropologists in the office explained to me what was going on since I suppose I had a worry face. They sound like what we hear from History Channel WWII clips.

From the China Post:

"During the drill, all vehicles are required to halt motion. Cars running on main streets are required to pull over or turn onto a non-main street and stop immediately, said the municipal officials.

Cars are not allowed to drive into the city during the exercise.

Taiwan Railway, Taiwan High Speed Rail and the MRT will run as usual, but passengers getting off will have to take directions from police to evacuate and seek cover, added the municipal officials.

During the 30 minutes exercise, people in all public and private buildings should abide by the regulation to close windows and shut off all electrical equipments.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin will accompany military officials in monitoring the progress of the evacuation of pedestrians as well as the operations of the civil defense militia."

...They take this very, very seriously. Those who don't follow the rules end up with a hefty fine!