Significant Strengthening of Natural Disaster Damage Support... 'Human Casualty Support' Exempt from Upper Limit Application

Approval of the Amendment to the "Regulations on Standards for Burden of Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Costs" at the State Council Meeting

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The government is significantly strengthening support for victims of natural disasters by excluding human casualties from the 50 million KRW cap on disaster relief funds.

On the 25th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that the amendment to the "Regulations on the Criteria for Burdening Relief and Recovery Costs for Natural Disasters" was approved at the Cabinet meeting. This amendment reflects the need to enhance support for victims, which was raised during last summer’s typhoon and heavy rain recovery efforts, amid the frequent occurrence of extreme weather events such as prolonged heavy rainfall.

The amendment stipulates that disaster relief funds for human casualties, including death, disappearance, and injury caused by natural disasters, will be excluded from the current cap application and paid accordingly. Until now, when damage occurred to private facilities, support amounts for human casualties, housing, and agriculture and fisheries were combined per household and capped at 50 million KRW. This change is expected to strengthen support for victims in cases where large-scale human and property damage occurs within the same household, such as in landslides.

Additionally, to strengthen support for disaster victims whose homes were damaged by natural disasters, the amendment formalizes the basis and funding burden ratio for installing "temporary housing modular homes," which had been provided through deliberation and resolution by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting during disasters. With this amendment, it is expected that temporary housing modular homes can be promptly provided to disaster victims according to relevant regulations without the need for deliberation and resolution by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting.

Choi Bok-su, Director of Disaster Management at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, "The frequent occurrence of extreme weather events, such as the prolonged rainy season last summer, can cause large-scale natural disaster damage," and added, "The government will continue to actively discover recovery support policies that disaster victims can genuinely feel, as demonstrated by this amendment."

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