'Fire Department → Seoul City Notification' Disaster Alert Sent After 1 Hour 30 Minutes... Seoul City's Response Also Under Scrutiny

Disclosure of Fire Authorities' Hourly Reports... Focus on Appropriateness of Local Governments' Responses Including Seoul
10:26 PM Seoul Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Center Reports to Seoul City... 11:56 PM Disaster Alert Sent

The "Itaewon Tragedy Victims Memorial Candlelight Vigil" is being held on the road near Seoul Plaza on the 5th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] As the timeline of the fire department's response during the Itaewon disaster was disclosed, attention is focusing on whether Seoul City's response was appropriate. It was revealed that there was a gap of about 1 hour and 30 minutes between the first report received at the Seoul Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Center and the issuance of the emergency disaster message, leading to criticism of delayed response.

According to a summary of the response announced by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) on the 6th, the Fire Department notified Seoul City and Yongsan District at 10:26 PM and 10:29 PM respectively on the 29th of last month. This was 11 minutes and 14 minutes after the 119 emergency call at 10:15 PM, when casualties began to occur in succession.

However, Seoul City sent the first disaster message only at 11:56 PM. This was 88 minutes after the Seoul Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Center notified the Seoul City Safety General Office. Considering that Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was on a business trip in Europe, was reported at 10:52 PM, the first disaster message reached citizens more than an hour later. Moreover, by the time the first disaster message reached citizens, multiple casualties had already been reported in Itaewon, and numerous media outlets were broadcasting reports for about 20 minutes.

During the national mourning period following the Itaewon tragedy, a citizen visiting the memorial space set up around Itaewon Station in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the 3rd, is playing "Amazing Grace" on the flute to honor the victims. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

In response to criticism of delayed response, Seoul City issued a rebuttal. The city stated that according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's 'Disaster Message Broadcast Operation Guidelines,' disaster messages must be sent when there is a risk of disaster or a disaster occurs in a jurisdictional district, and metropolitan governments with 17 districts must send disaster messages when there is a risk or occurrence of disaster in two or more districts. They answered, "We sent the disaster message first considering the situation on that day."

Seoul City also stated that it received instructions for situation management from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety at 10:53 PM and reported measures including emergency actions and mobilization at 11:27 PM. Meanwhile, Mayor Oh, who was on a business trip in Europe, first received a situation report at 11:20 PM from Policy Special Advisor Lee Kwang-seok, who was accompanying him locally.

The special advisor received a text message at 11:16 PM on site stating, "The fire department has issued a level 2 dispatch for rescue teams, and there are an estimated 30 patients in cardiac arrest," and verbally reported this to Mayor Oh four minutes later.

However, aside from Mayor Oh's urgent decision to return from overseas, no detailed information has been disclosed about hourly situation reports or disaster response measures. Seoul City only responded, "There were movements related to the accident internally involving many people and departments."

Following Seoul City, the response process of Park Hee-young, the head of Yongsan District Office, also came under scrutiny. Park became aware of the disaster situation at 10:51 PM, more than 30 minutes after the Seoul Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Center notified the district office situation room.

It has not been confirmed whether the district office directly reported to Park, but Park answered that he first learned of the situation through a text message from a local resident. Park arrived at the accident site at 10:59 PM.

Meanwhile, with the Fire Department's response timeline disclosed, focus is expected to be on whether the related ministries and local governments responded appropriately. In particular, although the Fire Department had previously stated that the earliest 119 call was received at 10:15 PM, it was revealed that there was another related call three minutes earlier at 10:12 PM, which is expected to increase criticism of the disaster response system.

According to the Fire Department, on the day of the disaster, the 119 call at 10:15 PM included a more specific report that "people are about to be crushed." The Seoul Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Center, which received the call, issued a dispatch order to Yongsan Fire Station, located 2 km from the scene, two minutes later at 10:17 PM.

The Seoul Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Center issued the dispatch order to Yongsan Fire Station and one minute later at 10:18 PM requested joint response from Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and Yongsan Police Station. At 10:26 PM, it notified the Seoul City Disaster Integrated Situation Room by phone, and at 10:29 PM, the Yongsan District Situation Room was also notified of the accident. Subsequently, the fire department raised the response level to Level 1 at 10:43 PM, Level 2 at 11:13 PM, and Level 3 at 11:50 PM. The time the information was relayed to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety via the 119 situation room was 10:48 PM, more than 30 minutes after the detailed 10:15 PM report.

Later, the time when Minister Lee Sang-min of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety became aware of the incident was 19 minutes after President Yoon Seok-youl was briefed at 11:01 PM. The Ministry explained that Minister Lee was at his home in Apgujeong-dong, Seoul, when he received the report. Kim Seong-ho, head of the Ministry's Disaster and Safety Management Headquarters, responded regarding the minister's whereabouts before receiving the report, "He had dinner in front of his house and stayed at home continuously."

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