Seoul City to Install Erosion Control Facilities at 84 Landslide-Prone Sites... Completion by End of June

Full Effort on Landslide Prevention Before Rainy Season... From the 11th, 25 'Landslide On-Site Prevention Teams' to Operate Proactively

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 7th that it plans to complete landslide prevention projects at 84 sites designated as landslide-prone areas through joint inspections with citizens, experts, and autonomous districts before the rainy season in June.

Seoul completed prevention projects last year at 81 landslide-prone sites, including Gwanaksan Mountain, with a budget of 11.4 billion KRW. This year, it plans to invest 14.2 billion KRW to carry out landslide prevention projects at 84 sites across the city. To complete erosion control works in these vulnerable areas before the rainy season in June, Seoul began preliminary design work in November last year, completed it in early February, and started construction early in March. As of May, some of the construction has been completed, ensuring the prevention projects are finished before the rainy season.

In particular, Seoul is implementing appropriately scaled erosion control projects that minimize forest damage rather than installing excessive facilities, promoting the installation of erosion control structures in harmony with nature. Instead of closed-type erosion control structures, permeable structures that allow wildlife to pass through will be installed to prevent ecological disruption caused by the facilities. To avoid oversized erosion control facilities and minimize forest damage, thorough field surveys, analyses, and consultations with various experts will be conducted to install erosion control structures promptly only in areas urgently needing forest disaster prevention.

Seoul is making efforts to alleviate vague anxieties by holding construction briefings and collecting opinions from residents near the prevention project sites. Erosion control projects are implemented in landslide-prone areas to prevent landslides (debris flows) in advance. To ease residents' vague concerns, Seoul plans to hold construction briefings explaining the content, scale, and necessity of the projects, communicate with residents, gather their opinions, and request their cooperation.

Meanwhile, Seoul has formed and is operating a landslide field prevention team from early May to carry out landslide prevention and response, on-site inspections, and emergency measures. The Seoul landslide field prevention team consists of 92 members across 25 units, performing patrols and inspections of landslide-prone areas, emergency responses, detection of illegal activities in erosion control sites, and safety measures such as evacuating residents in vulnerable areas during landslide alerts and warnings.

Yoo Young-bong, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Green City Bureau, stated, “We will do our best to implement comprehensive landslide prevention and damage mitigation through early diagnosis and preemptive measures in landslide-prone areas, rather than taking action after the damage occurs.” He added, “Following last year, Seoul is the only metropolitan local government to successfully attract the urban forest watershed management project, aiming to create a disaster-resilient and ecologically healthy forest watershed within the city.”

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