Gyeongbuk Office of Education Launches Crisis-Stage Response System: "Don't Move! Heatwave"

Operation of the 'Heatwave Response Task Force' to Prepare for Extreme Heat

Gyeongbuk Office of Education.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Gwiyeol] The Gyeongbuk Office of Education will operate a dedicated heatwave response team until September 30 to reduce damage to school facilities and educational activities caused by the heatwave and to prevent casualties such as heat-related illnesses among students and staff. They will also enter a response system according to the crisis level.

According to a recent announcement by the Korea Meteorological Administration, the average number of heatwave days (33℃ or higher) from 1991 to 2020 is 11 days, while in the past 10 years (2012?2021), it has increased to 14.6 days. It is expected that the number and intensity of heatwave days will increase after the 3rd to 4th week of July, when the monsoon season ends.

To proactively respond to the heatwave, the Gyeongbuk Office of Education has set the heatwave countermeasure period from May 20 to September 30 and plans to activate a crisis-level response system (caution-warning-serious) when a heatwave advisory is issued.

At the ‘Caution Stage (Heatwave Advisory)’, emergency school contact networks will be activated, outdoor activities such as physical education will be refrained from, school meal hygiene management will be strengthened, and emergency class measures such as shortened classes will be considered.

At the ‘Warning Stage (Heatwave Warning)’, adjustments to school arrival and dismissal times will be made, remote classes and school closures will be reviewed (after safety measures and reporting results to related agencies), outdoor activities such as physical education will be prohibited, and inspections of school meal hygiene management will be conducted. A situation management task force consisting of 14 members from the general team, academic operation team, response team, and publicity team will be operated.

At the ‘Serious Stage (Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Emergency Stage)’, a regional incident response headquarters composed of 26 members including the situation general team, accident handling team, recovery support team, publicity and administrative support team, and student management team will be operated to fully respond to the heatwave situation.

The Gyeongbuk Office of Education is taking thorough measures to prevent summer safety accidents by providing saline glucose for staff and outdoor workers vulnerable to heatwaves and meal service workers, distributing the ‘Basic Guidelines for Heat-Related Illness Prevention’ and ‘Self-Inspection Checklist’ to guide school-level safety inspections, and distributing the ‘Heat-Related Illness Characteristic Self-Diagnosis Form for Outdoor Workers’.

Kim Dongsik, Director of the Education Safety Division, said, “When a heatwave advisory is issued, frontline schools must thoroughly understand the step-by-step measures according to the manual and actively inform parents of the current measures through emergency contact networks. We will do our best to minimize health damage to students and staff through immediate and thorough responses to the issued situation.”

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