Gwangju City Mobilizes Emergency Support Team to Secure Special Disaster Area Designation

Two Teams and Seven Members Organized to Support Damage Assessment in Autonomous Districts
Central Investigation Team to Visit Sites and Calculate Damages Starting July 27

Gwangju City recently formed an "Emergency Support Team" consisting of 7 members divided into 2 groups to support on-site activities for the designation of special disaster areas in the districts affected by the heavy rain. Photo by Gwangju City

The city of Gwangju has formed and is operating an 'Emergency Support Team' to provide on-site assistance, such as supporting autonomous districts affected by recent heavy rainfall so that they can be designated as special disaster areas and receive national funding.

Although the city was excluded from the initial list of priority areas for special disaster designation, it plans to secure a final designation as a special disaster area by providing comprehensive support for the on-site investigation by the Central Joint Investigation Team scheduled from July 27 to August 2.

Currently, the city has organized an emergency support team consisting of two groups and seven members to support on-site activities in the autonomous districts. The emergency support team is mainly operating in the Buk-gu area, directly visiting public facility damage sites to focus on accurately assessing the amount of damage and inspecting the damage details.

In addition, the city is providing consultations and training for district officials on how to use the National Disaster Management System (NDMS) and is supporting overall damage investigation tasks.

A special disaster area is declared if the amount of damage exceeds 2.5 times the national funding support standard, which is calculated based on the average fiscal capacity index of each autonomous district over the past three years. Once designated as a special disaster area, the national government provides additional funding to cover 50 to 80 percent of the local government's share of recovery costs.

The damage thresholds for designation in the Gwangju area are as follows: Dong-gu and Nam-gu require at least 10.25 billion KRW, while Seo-gu, Buk-gu, and Gwangsan-gu require at least 12.25 billion KRW. It is also possible to designate administrative dong units within autonomous districts, in which case the thresholds are 1.025 billion KRW for Dong-gu and Nam-gu, and 1.225 billion KRW for Seo-gu, Buk-gu, and Gwangsan-gu.

Separately, the city has established a 'Victim Integrated Support Center' on the first floor of City Hall to provide one-stop counseling and support services for victims, focusing all efforts on rapid damage assessment and recovery.

On July 24, Kim Junyoung, Director of the Citizens' Safety Office, stated, "This heavy rainfall has caused unprecedented daily precipitation and left massive damage throughout Gwangju. Considering the poor local finances, additional national funding is absolutely necessary. We will focus all our resources to secure special disaster area designation."

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