Andong, Yecheon, and Yeongdong Wildfires Destroy 494 Hectares of Forest... Korea Forest Service Tightens Damage Recovery Efforts

Scenery of the wildfire-affected area in Andong, Gyeongbuk. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The scale of forest damage in the wildfire areas of Andong and Yecheon in Gyeongbuk, and Yeongdong in Chungbuk has been estimated at 494 hectares. The Korea Forest Service plans to tighten efforts to restore the damaged areas.

On the 11th, the Korea Forest Service announced that based on the emergency diagnosis and joint investigation results of the wildfire areas in Andong, Yecheon, and Yeongdong, it has established a forest damage restoration plan and will proceed with restoration in cooperation with local governments.

Previously, from the 24th of last month to the 1st of this month, the Korea Forest Service conducted a first on-site survey led by local governments, the National Institute of Forest Science, and the Korea Forest Engineering Association to establish a forest damage restoration plan. Then, from the 2nd to the 5th, the Korea Forest Service organized the 'Wildfire Damage Investigation and Restoration Task Force' and conducted a second joint investigation.

As a result, the total wildfire damage area in Andong, Yecheon, and Yeongdong was estimated at 494 hectares (forest damage cost of 4.982 billion KRW). The damage area by region is identified as 307 hectares in Andong (damage cost 2.447 billion KRW), 112 hectares in Yecheon (1.368 billion KRW), and 75 hectares in Yeongdong (1.167 billion KRW).

Based on the investigation results, the Korea Forest Service decided to establish and implement plans for 'emergency restoration' and 'permanent restoration.'

Emergency restoration will focus on urgent logging to prevent the fall of fire-damaged trees around residential areas and on erosion control projects to prevent secondary damage such as landslides. The Korea Forest Service aims to complete related projects within this year.

Permanent restoration is a long-term restoration plan to be implemented gradually from next year through 2024.

The total budget allocated for forest restoration is tentatively set at 10.12 billion KRW. The budget will be used for urgent logging and reforestation (7.485 billion KRW) and for restoring forest facilities such as erosion control dams (2.617 billion KRW).

Park Jong-ho, Commissioner of the Korea Forest Service, stated, “With the establishment of the restoration plan, we will swiftly restore the forests damaged by the large-scale wildfire, recover ecological functionality, and make every effort to prevent secondary damage such as landslides.”

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