Taiwan, located at the Western Pacific rim, bears the threats from both typhoons and seismic events. Catastrophic events impacted Taiwan more frequently than they did affect other countries. Hazard mitigation and disaster prevention are thus important tasks in the public domain. This paper describes the histories of debris flow events in Taiwan. The characteristics of debris flow and potential mitigation measures were discussed in terms of four circular stages of emergency management. The findings of this study can help in recasting disaster mitigation policies and emergency response planning in Taiwan.