Gyeonggi Fire Department Enables Disaster Reporting for Hearing Impaired via Sign Language (手語)

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Hearing-impaired residents of Gyeonggi Province will soon be able to quickly report disasters such as fires using sign language instead of text messages. Until now, most hearing-impaired individuals have had to call 119 via text messages, causing delays and difficulties.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Fire and Disaster Headquarters announced on the 26th that it has established a three-way video call connection system with the Sign Language Interpretation Center to enhance fire services for the hearing-impaired.

The three-way video call connection system allows hearing-impaired callers to 119 to be immediately connected by the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters’ Disaster Comprehensive Command Center to a sign language interpreter at the Sign Language Interpretation Center. This three-way call system enables more accurate situation assessment and faster response. The Sign Language Interpretation Center is a national institution that provides communication relay services to help people with hearing and speech disabilities communicate freely.

Previously, hearing-impaired individuals who called 119 could report incidents via text messages through a re-reporting guide. However, in urgent situations, the limitations of text message delivery made it difficult to grasp detailed on-site conditions, causing inconvenience.

Along with this, the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters plans to directly select and incorporate 10 essential 119 sign language sentences into the revised and published "2021 119 Situation Management Guidelines" at the end of this month, enabling situation workers to conduct basic sign language conversations with hearing-impaired individuals.

Cho Chang-rae, head of the Disaster Comprehensive Command Center at the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters, emphasized, "By establishing the three-way video call system, we have eliminated the inconvenience of hearing-impaired individuals reporting via text messages and enabled faster dispatch. This has significantly raised the safety level for people with disabilities, and we will continue to strive to build a disaster safety support system for the disabled."

Meanwhile, as of July this year, a total of 37 reports from hearing-impaired individuals were received at the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters Disaster Comprehensive Command Center, including 12 emergency medical cases, 16 inquiries and guidance, 1 rescue, and 8 misdials. Most reports were made via text message (SMS).

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