Each September, Taiwan rehearses the disaster it knows will come. This week, more than 1,300 officials transformed eastern Taiwan into a simulated catastrophe — a magnitude 7.3 rupture along the Huatung Longitudinal Valley Fault — practicing the intricate choreography of rescue, supply, and survival that separates preparation from tragedy. The exercise falls near the anniversary of the 1999 Jiji earthquake, a wound in collective memory that continues to shape how this seismically restless island chooses to govern its vulnerability.