The Great Earthquake of September 21, 1988 in Nantou, Taiwan awakened the people of Taiwan to the importance of earthquakes. In order to pay tribute to the people who died in the earthquake and to be alert to the threat of natural disasters, the central government established September 21 as "National Disaster Prevention Day" in 2000 and held earthquake drills to take precautionary measures to minimize the possibility of injuries and deaths in the event of a disaster. At 1:47 a.m. on September 21, 1988, a powerful earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter Scale struck Nantou, located at the epicenter of the earthquake.