5 out of 10 Gwangju Citizens Say "The Construction Company is Responsible for the Hakdong Disaster"

Gwangju City Council Announces Results of Disaster Safety Public Awareness Survey

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Five out of ten Gwangju citizens believe that the construction company Hyundai Development Company is responsible for the collapse accident of a demolition building in the Hakdong redevelopment area of Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, which resulted in 17 casualties.

According to the results of a recent citizen perception survey on disaster safety conducted by the Gwangju Metropolitan Council on the 6th, responsibility for the Hakdong redevelopment collapse accident was attributed as follows: Hyundai Development Company 51.5%, Dong-gu Office 26.1%, subcontracted demolition company 16.6%, and redevelopment association 5.8%.

The Gwangju Metropolitan Council commissioned the Korea Policy Research Institute, a professional public opinion research organization, to conduct a survey from the 8th to the 12th of last month targeting 501 men and women aged 18 or older residing in Gwangju (with a 95% confidence level and a sampling error of ±4.4 percentage points).

The survey covered topics such as disaster safety awareness and consciousness levels, disaster safety preparedness, safety perception by disaster risk factors, disaster safety education and prevention, and citizens' awareness of safety accidents in Gwangju.

In the survey, 44.3% of respondents answered that the safety apathy in our society is serious, while only 11.6% said it is not serious.

This indicates a need for active measures such as education, training, and institutional improvements to reduce safety apathy in the future.

Regarding obstacles to improving safety in Gwangju, respondents answered poor management and inspection by administrative authorities 38.4%, safety apathy and lack of safety awareness 31.2%, insufficient safety education 15.4%, and inadequate related laws and systems 15%.

Citizens expressed the opinion that poor management and inspection by administrative authorities bear the greatest responsibility for safety accidents.

In the safety perception survey on how safe people feel from disasters and accidents, the average score out of 10 on a 5-point scale was 4.94 for personal safety perception, 4.98 for Gwangju's safety perception, and 4.98 for society's safety perception, indicating an "average" level.

When asked about the current disaster safety status compared to 10 years ago, the average score was 6.27, indicating "above average," and the score for disaster safety status 10 years from now was 6.41, showing a higher expectation that future safety conditions will improve.

Regarding disaster safety consciousness levels, respondents rated themselves at 5.6 points, public institutions including Gwangju at 5.1 points, and the entire country at 5.1 points, indicating an "average level."

As for the causes of disaster safety accidents, answers were insufficient preemptive measures by the state or local governments 38.7%, lack of safety education or experience 30.1%, carelessness and safety apathy of the victims 28.1%, and delayed response by 119 emergency services or police 3%.

The report also included items investigating knowledge of response methods such as fire extinguisher use and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as well as risk levels of factors like aging buildings, ground subsidence, and fire hazards.

When asked about the degree of risk for disasters, citizens gave high scores for fire (5.47) and facility safety (5.34), while giving lower scores for sinkholes and ground subsidence (4.95) and fine dust (4.61).

Regarding future threats of social disasters, responses were "decrease" 17.4%, "increase" 30.9%, and "similar to current" 51.7%, whereas for natural disasters, responses were "decrease" 13.8%, "increase" 34.1%, and "similar to current" 42.1%.

When asked if they knew about the citizen safety insurance implemented by Gwangju to stabilize the lives of citizens affected by various accidents and disasters in daily life, 79.4% of citizens answered that they did not know at all.

Active promotion of the citizen safety insurance system seems necessary to ensure that citizens receive compensation for damages without omission in the future.

Regarding the risk of Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant, 61.5% responded "dangerous," 9.6% "safe," and 28.9% "neutral" or "average." On whether to operate Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant, 24% said "stop operation," 67.3% "operate," and 8.8% "don't know well."

Among all respondents, 67.3% supported nuclear power plant operation for reasons such as energy supply, but recognized its high risk, emphasizing the need for safe management of nuclear power plants once again.

Lee Hong-il, Chairperson of the Administrative Autonomy Committee who proposed the survey, said, "We conducted the survey to understand citizens' awareness of disaster safety in the wake of the Hakdong redevelopment site collapse accident tragedy," and added, "The survey report is a voluminous 128 pages, and we will ensure that the valuable opinions gathered from citizens are reflected in legislation and policies to create a safer Gwangju."

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