Yeoju Achieves Highest Grade 'A' in Ministry of Interior and Safety's 2024 Natural Disaster Safety Diagnosis Evaluation

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Eom In-yong] Yeoju announced on the 9th that it has achieved the highest grade ‘A’ for the first time in the Ministry of Interior and Safety's 2024 Natural Disaster Safety Diagnosis Evaluation.

The Natural Disaster Safety Diagnosis Evaluation, overseen by the Ministry of Interior and Safety, is a system introduced in 2007 pursuant to the Natural Disaster Countermeasures Act to assess local governments' disaster response capabilities. This year, the evaluation assessed the 2024 implementation results of all 228 cities, counties, and districts nationwide across a total of 33 indicators in three sectors: △risk factors, △disaster management, and △facility management, releasing evaluation results on a five-tier scale (A through E).

Yeoju received a ‘D grade’ evaluation in 2020, but since Mayor Lee Choong-woo took office, the city has prioritized proactive response to natural disasters, resulting in yearly grade improvements of one tier each year. This year, Yeoju achieved the milestone of receiving the highest grade ‘A’ for the first time, demonstrating national-leading disaster response capabilities.

The Ministry of Interior and Safety will provide incentive benefits to local governments that achieve ‘A grade’ status in the form of national funding for disaster recovery expenses. Yeoju will receive an additional 2% national subsidy for recovery costs, which is expected to be a significant boost to disaster recovery project implementation in the event of disaster damage.

Yeoju Mayor Lee Choong-woo stated, "The efforts we pursued for citizen safety have come together to produce this positive evaluation result," and added, "Rather than resting on this evaluation result, we will continue to strengthen disaster response capabilities that citizens can tangibly experience and make greater efforts to build a safer Yeoju this year as well."