Kim Sun-ho, Gurye County Governor, "Best Efforts to Prevent Recurrence of Flood Damage and Compensate Private Losses"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yuk Miseok] Kim Sun-ho, the governor of Gurye-gun, revealed the achievements of 2020 and the plans for the new year 2021 through his year-end and New Year's addresses.

In 2021, the focus will be on projects to prevent the recurrence of flood damage and actively support compensation for civilian damages. In addition, he highlighted the four major regional projects worth 200 billion KRW and the development of Natural Dream Park Phase 2 and Phase 3 as core initiatives.

▲ Busy overcoming flood damage and responding to COVID-19 in 2020, external evaluations rated as ‘top tier’

Governor Kim stated that in 2020, all efforts were devoted to overcoming flood damage and responding to COVID-19.

In August last year, Gurye-gun suffered concentrated heavy rain damage amounting to 180.7 billion KRW. Governor Kim emphasized that through joint civil-government rescue operations, not a single casualty occurred.

A total of 26,000 personnel and 26,000 heavy equipment units were mobilized to swiftly complete emergency restoration. He stated that they did their best in supporting residents by operating shelters for disaster victims, distributing disaster relief funds, securing additional support from public institutions and companies, and conducting damage assessment services.

To respond to COVID-19, Gurye-gun introduced the second drive-through screening clinic in Jeollanam-do and distributed quarantine supplies, including public masks, early on.

Despite the difficult times, various external evaluations rated the county at the highest level. Gurye-gun was selected as one of the ‘Top 10 Happiest Cities in Korea’ by the National Assembly Future Research Institute and as the ‘Most Livable City’ by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

Integrity ratings soared from grade 4 in 2019 to grade 2 in 2020, and the county received the highest grades in the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s innovation and financial evaluations.

▲ Prioritizing safety in 2021... focusing on preventing recurrence of flood damage

Governor Kim emphasized that preventing the recurrence of flood damage is the top priority. The total restoration cost for public facilities in Gurye-gun is 353.6 billion KRW.

Of this, 218.4 billion KRW will be invested in improvement and restoration (recurrence prevention) projects. A total of 107.3 billion KRW will be spent on six local rivers including Seosicheon and five small rivers to raise embankments by up to 3 meters or more and improve various structures.

Accordingly, 54 bridges will also be reconstructed, and the remaining 111.1 billion KRW will be used to install nine drainage pumping stations in flood-prone areas such as Muncheok, Ganjeon, Toji, and Masan.

Additionally, Gurye-gun is promoting land acquisition to upgrade the Gurye 119 Safety Center to the Gurye Fire Station, installing disaster broadcasting systems in every household to enhance disaster response capabilities, and building an integrated platform where administration, fire, and police jointly manage situations.

▲ Revitalizing the local economy... developing Natural Dream Park Phase 3 and actively promoting four major regional projects

In Natural Dream Park Phase 2, a new logistics center and workshops will be constructed, and Phase 3 will be developed as a healing and wellness cluster.

Efforts will be accelerated to establish an eco-friendly organic farming complex town worth 18 billion KRW that integrates processing, distribution, and sales in a one-stop system.

The agricultural budget will be expanded by more than 22% to support farmers’ management stability. Gurye-eup, Seomjingang, Hwaeomsa, and Jirisan Oncheon are designated as the four major regions, and projects worth a total of 200 billion KRW will be promoted.

Gurye-eup will invest about 93 billion KRW in urban regeneration and modernization of the 5-day market to improve residential conditions and revitalize the market. The Seomjingang region will invest about 59 billion KRW to create attractions such as a sky bike and Seomjingang Healing Ecological Park to attract experiential tourists. The Hwaeomsa region will invest 21 billion KRW in building a healing center and expanding the Asiatic black bear experience center. The Jirisan Oncheon region plans to promote projects worth about 44 billion KRW, including developing a zipline and monorail centered around the Jirisan Garden.

▲ The August 2020 flood damage was a ‘man-made disaster’; will do their best for 100% compensation

Governor Kim emphasized that the flood damage in August was a man-made disaster and that a consensus for compensation has been sufficiently formed. The damage assessment service will be completed by January and used as basic data for compensation. Until the investigation concludes in June, they will actively cooperate with the private countermeasure headquarters to thoroughly identify causes and do their best for 100% damage compensation.

Governor Kim expressed confidence, saying, “In the new year, we will completely emerge from the dark tunnel of 2020.” He encouraged residents by adding, “Let’s create a hopeful 2021 together.”

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