13 Casualties and 1,548 Landslides... Korea Forest Service Conducts Damage Survey and Recovery Efforts

Provided by Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] "7 deaths, 2 missing, 4 injured, totaling 13 casualties; 1,548 landslides (627 hectares), 12 mountain area Taeyoung Power Generation facility damages, and property damage amounting to 99.339 billion KRW"?this is the preliminary tally of forest damage during the monsoon season as of 4 p.m. on the 12th.

Park Jong-ho, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, announced this preliminary damage status on the 13th at the Government Complex Daejeon. He also stated that a "Forest Damage Investigation and Restoration Task Force" will be formed and operated to conduct on-site investigations and establish restoration plans for accurate damage assessment.

The investigation team will be led by the Director of the Forest Protection Bureau and divided into seven units by region: Gangwon, Gyeonggi, Chungbuk, Daejeon·Sejong·Chungnam, Gwangju·Jeonbuk, Jeonnam·Gyeongnam, and Gyeongbuk. Each unit will consist of approximately 5 to 10 government officials depending on the scale of damage in the area, and about four civilian experts will also be included in the investigation team.

The investigation will be conducted according to the "Guidelines for Natural Disaster Investigation and Restoration Plan Establishment," and the Korea Forest Service plans to establish restoration plans simultaneously using scientific investigation methods such as drones.

Among the 83 affected cities, counties, and districts, 39 special disaster areas and severely affected areas will be investigated by the Central Disaster Damage Joint Investigation Team led by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, while the Korea Forest Service will oversee investigations in other regions.

The Korea Forest Service will also improve future landslide prevention policies and systems. First, the basic survey scope of landslide-prone areas will be expanded from the existing 5,000 locations to 20,000 locations, and among these, high-risk areas will be selected and designated as landslide-prone areas to eliminate safety blind spots.

In particular, the system will be improved to issue landslide forecasts (advisories and warnings) to residents in high-risk areas one day in advance, enabling proactive evacuation.

Park Jong-ho, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, said, "The Korea Forest Service will strive to improve existing systems and develop new frameworks to achieve zero casualties and minimize property damage."

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