Governor Lee Cheol-woo, "Do Your Best to Restore River Damage" ... Requests Support for 500 Additional River Restoration Equipment Units

Damage Amount Identified So Far Exceeds 33 Billion Won

Governor Lee Cheol-woo of Gyeongbuk Province visited the river damage sites in the Pohang and Gyeongju areas during the holiday period.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Gwi-yeol] Governor Lee Cheol-woo ordered the full mobilization of administrative power to restore damage and take immediate measures for the river damage caused by Typhoon ‘Hinnamnor’ that continued from the 5th to the 6th.

He instructed that damage investigations be conducted swiftly and that every effort be made to receive administrative and financial support from the national and local governments as soon as possible.

Gyeongbuk Province suffered damage worth approximately 33 billion KRW across about 60 cases in 24 local rivers including Pohang and Gyeongju due to Typhoon No. 11 ‘Hinnamnor’.

Accordingly, since the 8th, the province designated emergency restoration managers for 16 local rivers severely damaged by the typhoon, deployed them on-site, and had them oversee the emergency restoration situation.

So far, emergency river restoration has been carried out daily without a break during the Chuseok holiday since the 6th, with 41 excavators, 12 dump trucks, and 2 dozers?55 pieces of equipment in total?from the province and Pohang and Gyeongju cities collaborating on the emergency restoration.

Due to the extensive and severe scale and area of damage caused by this typhoon, the restoration rate as of 7 a.m. on the 12th is about 40%, which is somewhat insufficient, but efforts are being made to complete it within this week.

Additionally, even though the typhoon damage is considered a natural disaster caused by record-breaking heavy rain (569mm in Pohang Donghae) exceeding the planned flood level of the rivers, the province plans to prepare fundamental measures to prevent recurrence through damage investigation and cause analysis.

In this regard, the province also plans to propose to central government ministries (Ministry of Environment) the deregulation of the environmental impact assessment system and the decentralization of related tasks.

Regarding this, Governor Lee Cheol-woo, while inspecting the sites in Pohang and Gyeongju during the holiday period, said, “The damage to residents and rivers caused by river flooding was severe. The current equipment is insufficient, so we requested additional equipment support through Ulsan City, etc. The management authority over rivers is divided between the national and local governments, so institutional improvements are necessary for future recurrence prevention, rapid restoration, and management.”

He also instructed, “Conduct a full survey of rivers in the province and establish a comprehensive improvement and restoration plan.”

Due to the recent typhoon, 1,446 damage reports were received for public facilities in the province, including water supply and sewage, roads and bridges, landslides, cultural assets, reservoirs, and fishing port facilities.

Among these, the restoration rate for most public facilities excluding rivers is around 90%.

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