Samcheok City has been actively pushing ahead with steps to reduce disaster risk, a top official of the city said.
"Our city suffered massive damages from powerful typhoons - Rusa in 2002 and Maemi in 2003. To reduce such risks from unexpected disasters following climate change, we are preparing a variety of steps for disaster risk reduction," said Samcheok City Mayor Kim Dae-soo.
"First of all, we will pour a total of 49.1 billion won into the project to establish drainage pump facilities in Namyang-dong and Sajik-dong in the city by 2012. Through the setup of the facilities, we hope to protect valuable property of citizens and minimize casualties," said Kim
Secondly, the city plans to inject 5.7 billion won into the project to set up a culvert in Hujin district, which was often inundated due to powerful typhoons in the past, in December this year.
It is also moving to spend 15.2 billion won to finish compensation for damaged buildings and land in the disaster risk district by December 2011.
"Thirdly, we will push for the project to create a Jeongra disaster prevention model village. Under the plan, we will secure some 10 billion won to create a disaster prevention ecology detention basin, environment-friendly disaster prevention riverbed, a park with the theme of disaster prevention, and a disaster prevention future center. By doing so, we can enhance efficiency of land usage and provide citizens with a stable residential environment," he said.
UN Disaster Reduction in Asia Ministerial Conference
Samcheok City, jointly with the disaster prevention industrial business corps of Gangwon Techno Park, plans to participate in the 2010 climate change adaptation & disaster risk reduction exhibition to be held in Songdo from Oct. 25 to 28.
"In keeping with the 4th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction to be held in Songdo, Incheon from Oct. 25-28, Samcheok City will attend the disaster risk reduction exhibition to herald the city's vision and strategy for fire fighting and disaster prevention industry," he said.
"In particular, our city officials in charge of fire fighting and disaster prevention will visit companies participating in the exhibition and make an all-out effort to attract them to the Samcheok fire fighting and disaster prevention industry research estate, which was completed on Dec. 31, 2008, and the Samcheok fire fighting and disaster prevention general industry estate, which is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2011," the mayor said.
Introduction of advanced disaster prevention technology
Samcheok City is driving various projects to build a consumer-oriented disaster prevention system to protect citizens' lives and property.
"First, we built a disaster video information integration and linkage system in the first half of this year. Under the project, officials at the disaster tracking room can grasp a disaster situation at a glance and control the feed through a total of 34 CCTVs, including 10 CCTVs to manage disaster situations, 18 CCTVs to predict disaster, and six CCTVs to check forest fire," said the mayor.
"Secondly, the city has constructed a system to forecast and warn of earthquake and tidal wave. For this project, the city invested 1.1 billion won in the system from 2006 to help residents and tourists in the coastal area escape possible disaster," he said.
"Thirdly, we built an automatic alarm facility in the two mountainous valleys _ Maeupcheon district and Duckpoong valley district - to minimize casualties stemming from localized torrential downpour," said Mayor Kim.
Campaigns for disaster risk reduction
Samcheok City implemented the 2010 training program to cope with disaster for three days from May 12 with attendance of some 250 officials of 18 institutions and groups.
The training program is designed to establish a rapid disaster response system through in-depth checks of manpower, equipment and disaster management systems, as well as having a close cooperative system with relevant institutions.
"For settlement of safe cultural activities, the city has conducted a campaign for safety checks on the fourth day of every month. It also carried out a joint safety inspection on crowd facilities with relevant institutions, including a safety management advisory team and fire stations consisting of experts in fire fighting, construction, electricity and gas fields," he said.
"At the same time, the city designated three schools, including Samcheok High School, as model schools for safety culture movement to spread safety culture to the regional society. They have been staging student-centered safety culture campaigns every month through street campaigns and publication of monthly safety newspapers," the mayor said.
Samcheok City, one of the world's famous cave marine tour cities, featured 55 caves and in 2002, when it held the successful "2002 Samcheok World Cave Expo".
In addition, the city boasts such natural gifts as beautiful mountains, sea, valley, as well as a folk park, a fishing village pavilion, new millennium seashore road, a cave theme hall, and a cave exploration hall.
Under the 2020 Samcheok long-term development plan, which aims to build an economically independent city with a population of over 200,000 in 2020, the city plans to build a cluster of fire fighting and disaster prevention industries.
The city also projects building the 4th LNG production base and power generation estate, while actively fostering shipbuilders and makers of advanced glass materials.
At the same time, the city plans to create a special district to produce organic agricultural products and actively push for development of ocean tourism, he added.
