Won Hee-ryong: "Establish Fundamental Measures to Prevent Tragedies in Semi-basements and Ggokbang"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] On the 10th, Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, visited the semi-basement room where a woman in her 50s, who died the previous day due to heavy rain damage, had lived and instructed to establish fundamental measures.

Minister Won visited the semi-basement room in Sangdo-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, where the deceased had lived, around 8 a.m. that day, received reports on the damage situation and recovery status, and said, "The government should have prepared crisis measures in advance for vulnerable households, but it was insufficient. I feel nothing but sorrow and apology when thinking of the deceased and their bereaved families."

Minister Won said, "Review fundamental measures to protect the safety and lives of residents in vulnerable households such as semi-basements and small rooms through disaster preparedness infrastructure construction, residential environment improvement, and vulnerable structure housing improvement," and ordered, "Strengthen vulnerability analysis for the entire city and devise specific and practical measures to create a safe environment against disasters and calamities, such as enhancing disaster prevention functions by expanding drainage and retention facilities, or revising building design and management standards to suit the era of climate change."

He continued, "While the immediate priority is to restore flood damage and support victims to recover, the government must concentrate all its capabilities, including residential environment improvement, urban planning, and smart technology, to establish fundamental measures to strengthen the safety of housing-vulnerable groups so that such tragedies never happen again," he emphasized.

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