Nowon-gu Receives 2021 National Disaster Management Presidential Citation... What Is the Secret?

High Praise for Prompt Response and Follow-up Measures to Flood Damage in Sangye 3 and 4-dong Immediately After the Inauguration of the 7th Civilian Administration... Creative Heatwave Measures Including Korea's First Nighttime Cooling Shelter and Healing Refrigerator Installation... COVID-19 Response Including Distribution of Masks to All Residents, Nowon-gu Cloth Mask Volunteer Corps, and Safe Accommodation Operation... Leading Safety Assurance with Seoul's First All-Resident Bicycle Insurance in 2015 and Resident Safety Insurance in 2019...

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Nowon-gu (District Mayor Oh Seung-rok) was recognized for its status as a safe city by receiving the Presidential Citation in the ‘2021 National Disaster Management Meritorious Service’ hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has been promoting government awards every year to evaluate the disaster prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery capabilities of citizens, public institutions, related organizations, and public officials engaged in disaster management, starting with the flood control merit award in 1965 to boost morale regarding disaster safety.

Nowon-gu was the only district among the 25 autonomous districts in Seoul to receive the Presidential Citation in the institutional category, which was conducted among 325 disaster management responsible agencies and 11 related disaster management organizations.

The district received excellent evaluations in a total of 11 indicators, including common evaluation indicators such as ▲contribution to national development ▲improvement of citizens’ lives ▲customer satisfaction ▲creative contribution.

One particularly highly rated point was the response to flooding in Sanggye 3 and 4-dong households caused by heavy rain immediately after the inauguration of Mayor Oh Seung-rok in the 7th local election term. The mayor and staff immediately dispatched to the site, swiftly carried out recovery measures such as carrying clothes and household items soaked in muddy water, and took follow-up measures including reinforcement construction of erosion control facilities and cut slopes, and improvement of sewage pipes to prevent recurrence.

Response to heatwaves and cold waves was also an excellent case. To protect vulnerable groups from heatwaves caused by rapidly changing abnormal climate, the district started operating night heatwave shelters nationwide for the first time in 2018. The shelters, which started with six locations, expanded to 11 locations that year due to residents’ positive response, and further expanded to 27 locations in 2019.

When shelter operations were inevitably suspended due to COVID-19 in 2020, the district created six outdoor heatwave shelters with large shade tents. In addition, healing refrigerators were installed at eight frequently visited riversides and walking trails, providing 4,800 bottles of water daily to residents exhausted by the heat, demonstrating creative heatwave countermeasures. For cold wave response, the district continuously promoted life-centered projects such as operating ‘Senior Cold Wave Shelters’ in cooperation with jjimjilbangs (Korean saunas) and local hotels, installing 92 warm shelters, and 192 heated chairs.

The response to the COVID-19 crisis also shone. From February 24 to May last year, the district held a total of 462 emergency meetings of the ‘Nowon-gu Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters’ chaired by the mayor to prepare policies for preventing and responding to the spread of COVID-19 infection, ensuring thorough COVID-19 response.

In addition to the health center screening clinic, the district operated a total of three temporary screening clinics including drive-throughs to conduct rapid and accurate specimen tests. It also carried out continuous disinfection at a total of 11,487 locations including childcare centers, kindergartens, bus stops, and riversides, which are key management facilities and disinfection target areas, through five specialized disinfection companies, making every effort to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Nowon-gu’s customized projects that shone with ideas also showed great results. These included distributing masks to all residents three times, operating the Nowon-gu Cloth Mask Volunteer Corps, running ‘Safe Accommodations’ to prevent secondary infections among families in self-quarantine, providing ‘Temporary Residential Facilities’ for Chinese international students in the district in February last year, and promoting psychological support projects for COVID-19 blues such as ‘Visiting Pottery Experience,’ ‘Safe Book Lending,’ and ‘Drive-in Theater’ operations.

The district also completed the establishment of manuals for rapid and systematic response in times of disaster crises. For 20 on-site action manuals by disaster type, Nowon-gu conducted and completed a manual maintenance project (service) in 2020 to reflect the characteristics of Nowon-gu by analyzing past damage cases and regional vulnerabilities.

Moving beyond simple manual establishment, the district continuously improves practical on-site manuals applicable to actual disaster sites by conducting joint training and on-site drills with related organizations.

Meanwhile, since 2015, the district invested 100 million KRW from its own budget to enroll all residents in group bicycle insurance, allowing residents to use bicycles with peace of mind, and by 2020, paid out over 1.3 billion KRW in insurance claims to 1,965 residents. Since 2019, it has subscribed to ‘Resident Safety Insurance’ to ensure compensation for residents in natural disasters and social disasters. In 2021, coverage was expanded to include death benefits due to COVID-19 infectious disease, covering a total of 12 areas.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “Nowon-gu received the Minister’s Citation for excellence in disaster management evaluation and an ‘A’ grade in natural disaster regional safety last year through systematic and pioneering safety administration. We will continue to prioritize the safety of residents and build a safe city Nowon.”

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