Jeonnam Province, All-Out Effort for Rapid Recovery from Heavy Rain Damage and Minimizing Additional Harm

[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeonnam Province has decided to fully mobilize all available resources to swiftly restore damage caused by the heavy rain and provide maximum support to help affected residents return to their daily lives as soon as possible.

The province announced on the 8th that it has held four emergency meetings chaired by Governor Kim Young-rok to strengthen a 24-hour monitoring system for rivers, valleys, flood-prone areas, and landslide-vulnerable zones where damage is expected, and decided on preemptive water discharge measures in preparation for rising water levels in dams and reservoirs.

They quickly evacuated 12,058 residents from landslide-risk areas such as steep slopes to prevent casualties.

In particular, Governor Kim personally visited the damage sites in Gwangyang, Haenam, and Jindo, urging thorough efforts to minimize damage to residents and ensure rapid recovery, and urgently dispatched disaster support officers at the department head level to 22 cities and counties.

In the Jeonnam region, the heavy rain brought an average of over 231.8mm, with Haenam Hyunsan recording the highest at 533mm. As of the morning of the 8th, there have been 3 casualties and 839 people from 495 households displaced.

For private facilities, damage is tentatively estimated at 36 billion KRW, including 471 houses, 24,937 hectares of agricultural land, 122 livestock farms, and 28 fisheries households. Public facilities such as roads, rivers, and water supply and sewage systems suffered 162 cases of damage amounting to 32.2 billion KRW, totaling approximately 68.2 billion KRW in damages.

Three people lost their lives due to house flooding, slope collapse, and going out to check water channels in Haenam, Gwangyang, and Jangheung respectively.

The province will provide up to 20 million KRW in resident safety mutual aid insurance to the bereaved families and swiftly support disaster relief funds.

For the 839 displaced people from 495 households, 15 temporary housing facilities have been prepared, and emergency relief supplies such as blankets, simple clothing, and relief kits have been distributed.

For residents whose houses were damaged or flooded, temporary prefabricated housing will be provided, along with disaster relief funds up to 16 million KRW and low-interest loans up to 200 million KRW for home improvement.

For houses with flooded living spaces requiring repairs, 2 million KRW in disaster relief funds will be provided.

In the agriculture and fisheries sectors, a prompt and thorough damage survey is underway, and disaster relief funds such as pesticide compensation (1 million KRW per hectare) and green onion compensation (2 million KRW per hectare) will be provided to support livelihood stabilization and damage recovery.

Regarding public facilities, emergency repairs have been completed on 68 flooded or damaged roads, reopening them to minimize inconvenience to residents.

Emergency repairs have also been completed on two river sites and five water supply and sewage facilities. National Road No. 23 in Yeongam has been emergency repaired and will reopen after slope stability review.

The flooded Jindo Jogeum Market has been drained and has been operating normally since the 7th. For about 70 small business owners affected, up to 20 million KRW in disaster relief funds and up to 70 million KRW in business stabilization loans (with guarantee support) will be provided.

Governor Kim said, “We will swiftly proceed with emergency recovery and damage surveys in the heavy rain-affected areas while proactively responding to ongoing rainfall. We will listen carefully to on-site difficulties and actively propose to the government any unreasonable issues or necessary system improvements to help residents’ lives.”

Meanwhile, due to the influence of the monsoon front expected to continue until this weekend, rain is forecasted in the Jeonnam region. The province plans to focus its capabilities on rapid damage recovery and minimizing additional damage.

The province and city/county officials, military, police, and firefighting personnel will be fully mobilized, and emergency volunteer groups and welfare task forces will be utilized to complete damage recovery quickly. In particular, preemptive prevention activities will be carried out against disasters that may cause casualties, such as landslides or river flooding.

Additionally, if the total property damage (excluding agricultural, livestock, and fisheries products) exceeds 4.5 to 9 billion KRW per city/county, the province will strongly urge the government to designate the area as a special disaster zone under the Disaster and Safety Basic Act and will push for system improvements to include damage to agricultural, livestock, and fisheries products in the calculation of natural disaster damage amounts.

Among the damage tallies confirmed so far by cities and counties, some include aquatic organisms not recognized by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, so the province plans to request the central government to reflect this.

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