Naju-si to Operate 'Disaster Safety Situation Room' Permanently Starting from the 22nd

Published 19 Jan.2024 14:56(KST)

Jeonnam Naju City will operate a disaster safety situation room on a full-time basis starting from the 22nd, in accordance with the Disaster and Safety Management Basic Act, as a follow-up measure to last year's comprehensive plan for the national safety system reform.

According to the city on the 19th, the disaster safety situation room will be established in an office next to the CCTV control center located on the 2nd floor of the Bitgaram-dong Administrative Welfare Center.

A panoramic view of Naju City Hall. [Photo by Naju City]

The situation room will have three dedicated personnel working in shifts 24 hours a day without rest.

Focusing on minimizing damage through proactive responses to various social and natural disasters and accurate initial actions, the room plans to facilitate rapid cooperative responses among disaster response agencies such as fire and police departments.

Until now, disaster situation management was handled by the Safety and Disaster Division during working hours and by the city hall duty room during nights, weekends, and holidays, which caused delays in real-time situation awareness, insufficient initial response, and a lack of disaster response expertise.

However, as disaster and accident types are becoming increasingly diverse?such as natural disasters caused by abnormal weather, large-scale fires in factories and logistics warehouses, and incidents like the Itaewon tragedy?real-time monitoring activities and immediate initial responses to prevent these events have become critically important.

The disaster safety situation room is expected to serve as a disaster management control tower that protects citizens' lives and safety through 24-hour real-time disaster monitoring, addressing previous limitations.

Main duties include ▲collecting disaster and safety information within the jurisdiction ▲transmitting situation updates to relevant departments when incidents occur ▲utilizing the national disaster safety communication network (PS-LTE) to quickly share disaster information and request initial responses among related agencies such as police and fire departments ▲sending disaster alert messages to prevent damage spread ▲and reporting situations to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Jeollanam-do Province, and disaster management authorities through the national disaster management information system.

Mayor Yoon Byung-tae stated, “Protecting citizens' safety and precious lives from various disasters is the most important responsibility of local governments,” adding, “We will strengthen cooperation among disaster response agencies through the operation of the disaster safety situation room and establish a rapid and accurate disaster response system to build Naju as a city that prioritizes safety.”