Osan City Proposes Declaration of Special Disaster Zone to Gyeonggi Province for Heavy Snow Damage

[Suwon Ilbo=Park Chan-hyuk Reporter] Osan City announced on the 7th that it has proposed to Gyeonggi Province the declaration of a special disaster zone for the heavy snow-damaged areas to enable swift recovery and support.

The city explained that from the 26th to 28th of last month, a record-breaking 38cm of snow accumulated, causing significant damage to farms, small business owners, and companies in eight districts.

The total damage assessed by the city amounts to 1.8 billion won, with Chopyeong-dong accounting for 1.6 billion won, concentrating the majority of the damage in that area. Numerous vinyl greenhouses and livestock facilities in the Chopyeong-dong area have been severely damaged, and the scale of damage is so large that recovery is difficult at the individual farm level, making it impossible to recover without government support.

Accordingly, Osan City Mayor Lee Kwon-jae visited the Chopyeong-dong area on the 5th, which is densely populated with vinyl greenhouses and livestock facilities and suffered significant heavy snow damage, to hear about the difficulties in damage recovery and the need for prompt support.

A special disaster zone declaration is a system that provides additional national funding to reduce the financial burden on local governments that have suffered large-scale disaster damage. Declared areas receive additional national funding for a portion of the local government's share of recovery costs incurred in facility restoration.

Additionally, residents in special disaster zones receive benefits including reductions in health insurance premiums, electricity bills, city gas bills, district heating bills, communication bills, and radio usage fees, with exemptions from farmland conservation charges and TV license fees, totaling 12 additional support items.

Mayor Lee Kwon-jae stated, "In addition to proposing the declaration of a special disaster zone, we will do our utmost so that farmers, small business owners, and business people affected by this heavy snow can return to normal life as soon as possible."