Gwangju to Urgently Allocate 82.2 Billion Won for Flood Damage Restoration and Resident Support

Promoting Fundamental Flood Prevention Measures, Including Restoration of Covered Rivers
Swift Payment of 25.8 Billion Won in Living Stabilization Support Before Chuseok
Improving Sinan Bridge Structure and Disaster Prevention Facilities... Restoring Covered Rivers
Mayor Kang Ki-jung: "All-Out Efforts to Build a Disaster-Safe City"

Kang Kijeong, mayor of Gwangju, held a press conference with five autonomous districts at the city hall briefing room on the 4th, announcing the "Flood Damage Recovery and Flood Prevention Measures for the Stability of Gwangju Citizens' Lives." Provided by Gwangju City

The city of Gwangju will urgently allocate 82.2 billion won to restore damage caused by the extreme heavy rains in July and August, focusing on facility restoration and supporting the stabilization of citizens' daily lives.

To expedite the stabilization of livelihoods, the city plans to provide living stabilization support funds before Chuseok, shortening administrative procedures as much as possible. In addition to emergency support for citizens, the city will also implement phased measures to prevent a recurrence of flood damage.

On September 4, Mayor Kang Ki-jung held a press conference with the five autonomous districts at the city hall briefing room, announcing these measures under the title "Flood Damage Recovery and Flood Prevention Measures for the Stability of Gwangju Citizens' Lives."

This summer, Gwangju experienced two instances of extreme heavy rainfall (from July 16 to 19 and on August 3), resulting in two deaths and 15,871 cases of property damage (414 cases of public facilities amounting to 22.8 billion won, and approximately 15,000 cases of private facilities totaling 10 billion won). In addition, 286 households and 417 individuals were temporarily evacuated due to the heavy rains. As a result of these damages, the government designated the entire Buk-gu district and the Eoryong-dong and Samdo-dong areas of Gwangsan-gu as special disaster zones.

The city will first allocate 82.2 billion won to swiftly restore public facilities and provide living stabilization support funds to residents affected by flooding, aiming to minimize inconvenience to citizens.

Of the project budget, 42.5 billion won, or 51.7%, is secured from national funds, with 14.3 billion won from the city, 23.2 billion won from the districts, and an additional 2.2 billion won from other sources. A total of 56.4 billion won will be used for the restoration of public facilities.

To stabilize the lives of residents affected by flooded homes and small business damage, 25.8 billion won will be provided. Households affected by flooding will receive up to 9 million won (7 million won in disaster relief funds and 2 million won in donations), while small business owners will receive up to 10 million won (8 million won in disaster relief funds and 2 million won from relief funds). This support has been expanded to nearly double the previous amount by adding consolation payments.

The city plans to complete the payment of support funds to affected residents before Chuseok next month. To achieve this, the city will streamline budget allocation and administrative procedures as much as possible.

Measures to prevent recurring flood damage will be implemented in three phases. The first phase, emergency measures for urgent recovery and immediate action, includes four projects: a special discount on the Gwangju Sangsaeng Card for special disaster zones (5.34 billion won); installation of drainage outlets under and removal of acrylic panels above the retaining wall at Sinan Bridge to improve drainage capacity in the area (150 million won); installation of a drainage pump near Sinan Bridge (1 billion won); and installation of flood barriers at 1,300 homes and businesses with a history of flooding (4 billion won). A total of over 10.4 billion won is being invested in these projects.

The second phase, mid-term measures, will see a concentrated investment of 434.9 billion won across 18 projects, including: structural improvements in the Sinan Bridge area (60 billion won); installation of four stormwater retention facilities (85.4 billion won); maintenance of two natural disaster risk improvement zones (54.1 billion won); installation of drainage pump facilities in five low-lying areas near rivers (80.5 billion won); and prioritized sewer maintenance at four locations (154.9 billion won).

The third phase, long-term measures, will focus on restoring river flow functions at the Yangdong Covered Market and Seobangcheon Covered Road through restoration projects (107.38 billion won for Yangdong Covered Market, 60 billion won for Seobangcheon Covered Road) and continued installation of stormwater retention facilities.

Mayor Kang stated, "I would like to once again extend my deepest condolences to the citizens who suffered great losses from the extreme heavy rains," adding, "We will mobilize all administrative resources to ensure swift recovery support and to establish fundamental disaster prevention facilities, making Gwangju a city safe from disasters."

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