Gwangjin-gu Establishes and Implements Comprehensive Disaster and Heatwave Countermeasures for Summer

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Gwangjin-gu Flood and Wind Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting

Yukgapmun Opening and Closing Drill

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwangjin-gu (Mayor Kim Seon-gap) is establishing and implementing a comprehensive plan to protect residents from disasters such as flood damage and heatwaves as the summer season approaches.

First, since this is the second summer during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the district has focused on preventing the spread of COVID-19 and promoting vaccination. The district continues to improve and strengthen its quarantine system, aiming to vaccinate over 70% of residents (approximately 240,000 people) safely at the Gwangjin-gu COVID-19 Vaccination Center, 100 designated medical institutions, and the Gwangjin-gu Public Health Center.

Additionally, the district will implement flood damage countermeasures from May 15 to October 15, a five-month period. On the 14th, the Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters was established on the first floor of the Safety Management Building at the district office.

The Flood Damage Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters is led by the district mayor and consists of 13 operational teams with a total of 63 members, including the Situation Management General Team, Traffic Countermeasures Team, and Social Order Maintenance Team. This year, the number of operational teams was adjusted from four to seven by adding three teams: Facility Emergency Recovery, Energy Function Recovery, and Disaster Site Environmental Maintenance, in response to the first-stage emergency alert.

Prior to this, the district formed inspection teams to focus on flood control facilities and vulnerable areas. The inspection targets included five rainwater pumping stations with 30 pumps, 18 sluice gates with 44 gates, flood control facilities such as Jungnangcheon Stream, and sewer systems.

Furthermore, 32 facilities vulnerable to flood damage, including large construction sites, landslide-prone areas, and underground facilities, were also inspected.

The district is also promoting activities to prevent resident damage caused by flood damage. Care officials totaling 94 have been assigned to 58 households in flood-prone areas, and they maintain a rapid response system by sharing information mutually via SNS in case of sudden heavy rain or other situations.

In addition, 1,643 rainwater inlet managers have been designated to inspect the condition of rainwater inlets and conduct focused inspections and maintenance of flood-prone areas during heavy rainfall. The district also supports flood damage insurance that compensates for property damage caused by natural disasters. When subscribing to the insurance, compensation ranges from a minimum of 70% to a maximum of 92% of the premium depending on the region and area.

Alongside this, the district has set the heatwave comprehensive countermeasure period from May 20 to September 30, four months, and is taking proactive measures to minimize heatwave damage. When a heatwave warning is issued, a comprehensive heatwave countermeasure situation room consisting of 11 members in four teams operates 24 hours a day.

This year, the district expanded the number of cooling fog systems, which reduce high temperatures and improve air quality, by adding three units in Guui Park, Achasan Park, and Gwangjin Supnaru, bringing the total to four units. However, operation is temporarily suspended until COVID-19 is alleviated to prevent local infection spread.

Additionally, 28 “Smart Shade” shelters that automatically open and close in response to the surrounding environment based on IoT and solar power technology, and “Village Bus IoT Shade Rest Areas,” which maintain the functions of smart shades but significantly reduce installation area, have been installed and operated at 12 village bus stops.

Moreover, the district operates a total of 125 shade shelters, including 85 fixed parasol-shaped shelters near crosswalks or traffic islands.

For heatwave-vulnerable groups such as elderly living alone and chronic patients, the district assigns visiting nurses responsible for each neighborhood who work with neighborhood welfare planners to manage health and provide cooling supplies such as first aid kits, cool mats, and cooling sleeves.

Furthermore, the district patrols major homeless areas to encourage shelter admission and return home through counseling and provides relief supplies to protect street homeless individuals. It also plans to create rest areas with shade shelters at construction sites to prevent heat-related illnesses.

Kim Seon-gap, Mayor of Gwangjin-gu, stated, “Natural disasters cannot be prevented by human power, but human-made disasters caused by structural problems in the sewer system or manual operation errors can be prevented and reduced. Therefore, the role of the Flood Damage Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters is even more important. I ask everyone to unite their efforts for this year’s flood control measures to protect the lives and safety of our residents.”

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