Forest Service Conducts 'Emergency Assessment' of Andong Wildfire Damage Site to Prevent Secondary Disasters Such as Landslides

On the 28th, an "Emergency Diagnosis Team" composed of landslide experts conducted an on-site investigation to prevent secondary damage such as landslides in the wildfire-affected area of Andong. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service will conduct an emergency assessment of the wildfire-affected area in Andong. The emergency assessment is being carried out to prevent secondary damage such as landslides within the wildfire-affected area.

On the 29th, the Korea Forest Service announced that it will form an emergency assessment team composed of landslide experts from the National Institute of Forest Science, the Sabo Association, and technical experts, and conduct an emergency assessment of the wildfire-affected area in Andong from the 28th of this month to the 7th of next month.

The Andong wildfire occurred around 3:39 p.m. on the 24th in Pungcheon-myeon, Andong-si, Gyeongbuk Province, and was extinguished after about 40 hours (on the 26th). During this process, the wildfire burned approximately 800 hectares of forest in the Pungcheon-myeon area and caused damage including the destruction of 4 houses and 3 livestock barns.

The concern is that secondary damage such as landslides may occur in the Pungcheon-myeon area where the ground was weakened by the wildfire.

Accordingly, the Korea Forest Service plans to conduct an emergency assessment on site and, based on the results, calculate the main processes and required budget to ensure that emergency measures and urgent restoration can be carried out promptly within the year.

First, the emergency assessment team will delineate areas on site where secondary damage is possible and select sites requiring emergency measures to take action. Emergency measures refer to temporary landslide prevention actions such as stacking sandbags and covering with plastic sheets in areas where soil erosion damage is expected before emergency restoration and permanent restoration are implemented.

Lee Kwang-ho, head of the Landslide Prevention Division at the Korea Forest Service, said, “The Korea Forest Service will focus on quickly establishing safety measures for the wildfire-affected area in Andong through the emergency assessment,” and added, “We will also do our best in prevention projects to ensure that secondary damage caused by landslides during the summer heavy rains does not occur.”

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