"Beat the Heatwave"... Gimhae City to Expand Installation of Shade Shelters and Cooling Fogs Starting from the 18th

Shade shelter installation in Gimhae City (Photo by Gimhae City)

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kang Woo-kwon] Gimhae City, Gyeongnam announced on the 14th that it has expanded the number of shade shelters to 50 locations and cooling fog facilities to 5 locations to protect citizens from the summer heat.

Gimhae City has established a comprehensive heatwave countermeasure plan this year and will operate it for 136 days from the 18th to September 30th.

Looking at the number of heatwave days (days with a daily maximum temperature of 33 degrees Celsius or higher) in the Gimhae area over the past five years, it recorded 16 days in 2015, then maintained more than double with 36 days in 2016, 39 days in 2017, 43 days in 2018, and 32 days in 2019. Accordingly, various related organizations have prepared detailed comprehensive heatwave countermeasures by sector.

The city responds to heatwaves by dividing the heatwave countermeasure period into three stages (normal, heatwave advisory, heatwave disaster). It operates 403 cooling shelters (cooling centers) mainly at elderly facilities, and especially during the peak heatwave advisory months of July and August, it runs customized cooling centers equipped with snacks and bedding for temporary overnight stays.

The city has designated and operates about 1,200 disaster helpers to protect vulnerable groups from heatwaves. These disaster helpers provide services such as health checks, welfare calls, heatwave preparedness guidelines, and cooling shelter information to approximately 25,000 vulnerable individuals including elderly living alone, disabled persons, and chronic patients.

A heatwave damage monitoring system is also being established. The public health center plans to create a network with seven emergency room medical institutions to monitor the status of emergency room visits and heat-related illness patients, and maintain an emergency reporting system in case of heatwave-related deaths.

To prevent damage to livestock and livestock facilities, a separate Livestock Disaster Countermeasure Team consisting of 3 groups and 9 members is operated, and 960 million KRW is supported for eight projects including the installation of automatic cooling systems for pigs and livestock disaster insurance support to minimize livestock disasters.

Additionally, to prevent safety accidents, the city conducts frequent inspections of 371 locations such as LPG and CNG filling stations and solar power generation facilities with explosion risks, in cooperation with the Korea Gas Safety Corporation and the Korea Electrical Safety Corporation.

Outdoor construction sites are advised to suspend work during the severe heat hours (2 to 5 p.m.) and implement flexible working hours during heatwaves. Heatwave manuals will be distributed to daycare centers, kindergartens, and schools to recommend refraining from outdoor activities during heatwave advisories.

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