Pyeongtaek City Operates 24-Hour Situation Room in Preparation for Winter

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Pyeongtaek City will operate a 24-hour situation room from the 15th of next month through March 15th of next year to prepare for natural disasters including heavy snow, cold waves, strong winds, and rough seas as winter approaches.

The city held a briefing on the 15th at the municipal government's integrated situation room with approximately 60 participants, including civic emergency volunteer groups, police, fire departments, military units, related agencies, and disaster management officials, to strengthen public-private-military cooperation.

With early cold wave alerts issued since early October this year, forecasts indicate that this winter will bring not only extreme cold but also frequent heavy snowfall.

The city has decided to establish a five-stage emergency response system consisting of a preparation phase (constant readiness state and pre-emergency phase) and emergency phases (stages 1, 2, and 3).

The city will also formulate comprehensive countermeasures against cold waves and operate a task force. To prepare for heavy snow, the city will operate four snow management command bases (storage sites) and has completed regular maintenance inspections for purchasing snow removal materials (eco-friendly de-icing agents, calcium chloride, sand, etc.) and snow removal equipment (61 spreaders, 24 snow plows, 10 automatic brine spraying systems, etc.). The city plans to deploy 279 tractor-mounted snow removal units, 21 self-propelled snow removal units, and 72 snow blowers to townships and administrative districts.