Yongin City Takes All-Out Response to Prevent Heat Wave Damage

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Yongin City announced on the 28th that it is implementing various heat wave response measures to prevent citizens from suffering damage due to the continuous extreme heat.

The city has designated the period through September 30 as its heat wave countermeasure period and established a heat wave response task force consisting of 8 departments across 4 divisions—situation management, welfare, health management support, and agricultural and livestock measures—to enable rapid response in case of damage.

In addition, the city has prepared comprehensive heat wave response measures with a focus on expanding heat mitigation facilities, managing the health of vulnerable populations, and operating cooling centers.

The city is primarily deploying three water spray trucks since July 1 to cool the heat along roadside areas and prevent pavement deformation caused by overheating, spraying water on 203km of urban sections daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The city has additionally installed 282 shade canopies at 181 crosswalks and traffic islands with heavy foot traffic throughout the city, and has installed two "smart shade canopies" at two locations—the Myongji University intersection crosswalk and the Singal intersection traffic island—that automatically open and close in response to temperature and wind.

To protect the health of elderly residents who are particularly vulnerable to heat waves, the city is opening 43 indoor cooling centers including senior community centers and designating and operating four outdoor cooling centers in each district using park pavilions and pergolas.

Additionally, cooling mats and cooling pillows are provided to 2,720 elderly residents, and portable fans, cooling arm sleeves, and fans are distributed by community safety volunteers to citizens using outdoor cooling centers.

When heat wave alerts are issued, disaster assistance volunteers comprising 23 health and medical professionals, 246 elderly care workers, 114 civil servants, and 736 community safety volunteers—a total of 1,119 people—provide well-being calls and in-home health management services.

During the peak heat hours from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., the city strengthens surveillance activities on construction sites, farms, and livestock farms, and takes measures to prevent casualties by recommending workers comply with rest time requirements.

For citizens and medical staff visiting screening clinics to receive COVID-19 tests, the water service office temporarily provides white jade water. Initially, 1,000 bottles of white jade water are placed at the screening clinic in Giheung-gu and the Dongbaek temporary screening center for public use.

Yongin City Mayor Baek Gun-ki stated, "We are implementing various mitigation measures to safely protect citizens from the prolonged heat wave," and urged, "Citizens must also strictly adhere to national action guidelines for heat wave response."