Suwon City Publishes White Paper on Response to A Apartment Exhaust Duct Accident

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon City has documented its response process to the exhaust duct detachment accident at an A apartment complex in the city on August 18.

The city published a white paper titled "Disaster and Over-Response—Six Days of Vivid Records of the A Apartment Exhaust Duct Detachment Accident," which details the disaster response efforts over six days immediately following the accident.

The white paper contains detailed accounts of the accident response process, from the initial 119 emergency call through the response and demolition procedures.

At the time, upon notification to the city's emergency operations center, city officials immediately rushed to the scene and urgently evacuated residents together with police and firefighters. After establishing an integrated disaster response command center at the apartment management office, Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young rushed to the scene to direct the accident response. Following a detailed safety inspection and in accordance with expert recommendations, the exhaust duct was demolished six days after the accident, allowing residents to safely return to their homes.

City officials and volunteers worked around the clock from the day of the accident on August 18 through the completion of demolition on August 23, guarding the integrated disaster response command center and the scene to ensure resident safety and minimize inconvenience.

The city also informed residents of progress through resident briefing sessions, dialogues with residents, text messages, and social media. Mayor Yeom Tae-young provided detailed explanations seven times through his personal social media accounts.

The white paper is organized into five chapters: ▲"Suwon City Emergency Operations Center" ▲Six Days of Records ▲Overcoming Through Participation and Communication ▲Lessons Left by Disaster ▲Epilogue. The paper documents communication with residents, activities of the integrated disaster response command center, records of the exhaust duct demolition process, and measures to prevent recurrence.

On September 4, residents of the A apartment complex presented a certificate of appreciation to Mayor Yeom Tae-young, stating, "We sincerely thank Mayor Yeom Tae-young and all public officials who worked tirelessly for our safety."

In the foreword, Mayor Yeom Tae-young stated, "Our city places 'citizen safety' as the first value of administration, and we will continue our unceasing efforts until local government can sufficiently protect citizen safety. We hope that the vivid six-day records contained in this white paper will be utilized as a practical response manual at disaster scenes."

The white paper is available at the 'Suwon City e-book Information and Promotion Center' (http://news.suwon.go.kr/ebook).