Governor Choo Mi-ae Inspects Emergency Command Center to Prepare for Heavy Rains During Monsoon Season

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] As nationwide monsoon rains began on July 1st starting from Jeju Island, Governor Choo Mi-ae of Gyeonggi Province visited the Disaster and Safety Command Center to inspect the province's disaster response status.

Governor Choo visited the Disaster and Safety Command Center at Gyeonggi Provincial Government on the morning of the 6th and received briefings on this summer's weather conditions including monsoon forecasts, comprehensive countermeasures against summer flooding and typhoons, and Gyeonggi Province's disaster response system.

At the meeting, Governor Choo stated, "Rain will intensify through the day after tomorrow, so please pay close attention and make sure to follow through with preparations made so far while staying on top of the field situation," and urged, "We sincerely hope this passes safely, but accidents can occur suddenly anywhere. Please maintain emergency communication channels well."

Governor Choo then instructed △establishing preparedness with sub-level executives at the center and overall situation management △advance surveillance, inspection, and pre-emptive control focused on three major types of casualties (landslides, rivers, underground spaces) △improving support systems for priority evacuation targets and pre-evacuation using resident evacuation support teams △actively utilizing civil defense alert facilities along with disaster early warning and alert facilities when evacuation orders are necessary to transmit evacuation orders and emergency situations.

Accordingly, the province plans to establish preemptive preparedness measures including advance inspection of disaster-vulnerable areas such as underground space flooding, rapid river currents, and landslides, and inspection of emergency communication systems for personnel engaged in control and evacuation on the ground such as autonomous disaster prevention teams and resident evacuation support teams.

Meanwhile, to prepare for this summer's flood and typhoon damage, the province is operating a joint "Disaster Prevention Countermeasure Dedicated Organization (T/F)" involving the province, municipalities and counties, and the private sector. It has completed inspections of approximately 960,000 vulnerable facilities within the province and is conducting ongoing follow-up management.

The province has also established and is operating advanced technology-based control and evacuation response guidelines for three major types of casualties (underground spaces, rivers, landslides), and has consistently promoted infrastructure improvements in vulnerable areas including flood detection alarm devices and automatic shutoff facilities since February.