Korea Forest Service to Intensively Manage Major Wildfire Areas and Prepare for Landslides

The forestry authorities are rolling up their sleeves to prevent secondary damages such as landslides in areas affected by large-scale wildfires. The core of their plan is to prioritize emergency restoration in regions with high landslide risk before the summer monsoon season begins, and to strengthen collaboration systems among relevant agencies to ensure rapid evacuation of residents in case of emergency.

On May 14, the Korea Forest Service announced the '2025 Landslide Prevention Measures' at the Government Complex Daejeon. This year's landslide prevention measures focus on intensively managing the Yeongnam region, where large wildfires broke out in March, and on strengthening preemptive evacuation capabilities by improving the way risk information is provided.

Provided by Korea Forest Service

Previously, from March 28 to April 19, the Korea Forest Service conducted an emergency assessment on 6,466 locations within 100 meters of residential areas that were at high risk of secondary damage in wildfire-affected zones. As a result, 615 sites requiring restoration were selected. In particular, for 279 locations deemed to require urgent restoration, the goal is to complete emergency restoration by June 15, before the monsoon season begins, and efforts will be accelerated to meet this target.

Reflecting the current assessment of wildfire damage in Yeongnam, the risk levels and impact ranges for landslides have also been urgently adjusted. The updated information has been applied to the landslide information system and used to proactively improve evacuation systems, including the safety of shelters, temporary housing facilities, and evacuation routes.

Starting this year, the range of entities receiving landslide risk prediction information via the landslide information system will be expanded. The aim is to strengthen disaster response coordination by including 229 relevant departments, such as central government ministries managing steep slopes (Ministry of the Interior and Safety) and road embankments (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport), as well as disaster safety departments of local governments, as recipients of this information.

Additionally, the Korea Forest Service emphasized that the method of providing information will be switched from traditional text messages to notification messages, and data processing capabilities will be improved so that landslide risk information can be rapidly communicated to relevant agencies, enabling preemptive evacuation of residents.

In particular, the Special Wildfire Disaster Suppression Teams, which have mainly been active at wildfire disaster sites, will be deployed to landslide sites to support resident evacuation and emergency response. Collaboration will also be strengthened among local governments, police, fire departments, and evacuation assistants (such as village leaders), so that all disaster management resources can be mobilized and concentrated on-site in the event of a landslide.

Lim Sangseop, Commissioner of the Korea Forest Service, stated, "The Korea Forest Service will do everything possible to prevent secondary damages such as landslides in wildfire-affected areas," and added, "I urge residents living near forests to evacuate without hesitation when receiving emergency disaster alerts during dangerous periods such as summer typhoons or heavy rains."

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