Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters Produces 'Standard Disaster Response Manual for Persons with Disabilities'

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi-do Fire and Disaster Headquarters has published a 'Customized Disaster Response Manual' booklet for people with physical and visual disabilities.

The Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters announced on the 16th that it invested 95 million won to publish 5,300 copies of the 'Standard Disaster Response Manual for the Visually and Physically Disabled and Their Assistants,' aiming to incorporate the core value of 'fairness' from the 7th Gyeonggi Province administration into the disaster response sector.

The newly produced standard disaster response manual was created with illustrations and Braille to help physically and visually impaired residents and their caregivers in the province easily learn how to prevent and respond to daily safety accidents.

The manual includes nine types for the visually impaired: earthquake, fire, gas, walking accidents, elevators, escalators, falls, medication, and mobile phone battery depletion; and eight types for the physically impaired: earthquake, fire, gas, traffic accidents, elevators, escalators, falls, and electric wheelchair battery depletion.

In particular, three areas that are essential for people with disabilities but had not been included in local fire and disaster headquarters' accident response manuals until now?▲medication, ▲mobile phone battery depletion, and ▲electric wheelchair battery depletion?were included in the manual for the first time nationwide.

The province plans to distribute the disaster response manual to over 550 facilities housing people with disabilities and use it as teaching material for joint fire drills and on-site consulting visits.

Earlier, Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung stated, "There should be no discrimination because of disability. Equal opportunities for disaster response education must be guaranteed for both people with and without disabilities," and has been promoting the 'Establishment of a Disaster Safety Support System for People with Disabilities,' including the production of the standard manual, as a pledge project of the 7th administration.

Meanwhile, according to the National Fire Information System, from 2014 to 2018, 36 people with disabilities died in fires in Gyeonggi Province, accounting for 9.6% of the total fire deaths (374 people) over the past five years. Considering that the proportion of people with disabilities in the province was 4.1% as of April 2018, the mortality rate is more than twice as high compared to those without disabilities.

An Ki-seung, head of the Life Safety Division at the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters, emphasized, "If this newly produced booklet is widely used in safety education for people with disabilities and helps even one person in an emergency, it will have fulfilled its role as a manual," adding, "We will continue to strengthen disaster safety education and training to minimize casualties and property damage among people with disabilities and create a safe social environment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.