Sirens Nationwide Tomorrow Afternoon... "Move to Shelters"

Nationwide Civil Defense Drill for Air Raid Preparedness
Evacuate to Shelters or Underground When Sirens Sound
Focus on Training to Yield to Emergency Vehicles

On August 20, a nationwide civil defense drill simulating an air raid will be conducted for 20 minutes starting at 2:00 p.m. When the air raid alarm sounds at exactly 2:00 p.m., civil defense sirens will ring throughout the country, accompanied by emergency broadcasts and safety alert text messages.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on August 19, this civil defense drill will proceed in the order of air raid alert, alert warning, and alert cancellation. Jang Han, Director of Civil Defense, stated, "The public should recognize that this is a drill, remain calm, listen to the live radio broadcast, and quickly evacuate to the nearest civil defense shelter or underground space nearby."

Scenes from the 'Air Raid Civil Defense Drill' conducted in 2023. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Approximately 17,000 civil defense shelters have been designated nationwide, including underground parking lots of apartment complexes, subway stations, and underground shopping centers. Their locations can be checked on portal sites such as Naver and Daum, as well as Kakao Map, T Map, Naver Map, and the Safety Stepping Stone app. If there is no shelter nearby, people may evacuate to the underground space of a nearby building. When the alert warning is issued at 2:15 p.m., people may leave the shelters and maintain a state of alert while being allowed to move around. The drill will end at 2:20 p.m. when the alert is lifted.

This civil defense drill will especially focus on training to yield to emergency vehicles. During the drill, drivers must turn on their hazard lights to signal awareness when emergency vehicles such as fire trucks or ambulances approach, and then slow down. On single-lane roads, drivers should pull over to the far right and stop temporarily. On roads with two or more lanes in one direction, vehicles should move to the left and right lanes to create a central lane for emergency vehicles to pass. This year, traffic control will be enforced only for five minutes from 2:00 p.m. in specific areas, such as the section between Sejong-daero Intersection and Sungnyemun Intersection in Seoul.

On the day before (August 19) and the day of the drill (August 20), safety alert text messages will be sent to notify the public of the upcoming drill. During the drill, live broadcasts on KBS Radio 1 will provide instructions on civil action guidelines. However, major facilities such as hospitals, subways, railways, aircraft, and ships will continue to operate normally, regardless of the drill. Areas affected by wildfires in March and heavy rainfall in July will be excluded from this drill to prioritize recovery efforts.

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