Gwangyang City, Fully Committed to Building a Safe City Comfortable for All Citizens

Budget of 23.1 Billion Won Invested for Proactive Establishment of Disaster and Emergency Safety Infrastructure

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Gwangyang City announced on the 28th that it is putting all its efforts into realizing a "Safe and Happy City Gwangyang" where all citizens can live more safely and comfortably.

The city is promoting various safety policies and projects to alleviate citizens' safety concerns about disasters, create a safe urban environment, and proactively prevent disasters.

The major policies and projects to be promoted this year include ▲cultivating safety awareness among all citizens ▲operating citizen safety insurance enrollment ▲improving regional safety index ▲strengthening safety management of vulnerable hazardous facilities ▲operating the integrated CCTV control center ▲establishing a safety foundation for disaster and accident preparedness, with detailed contents as follows.

◇ Strengthening Safety Awareness Education for All Citizens

The city plans to directly visit kindergartens, schools, and senior centers to conduct customized safety programs suitable for different age groups, including traffic safety rules, fire safety, accident prevention, elderly health guidelines, and infectious disease prevention, to cultivate safety awareness and spread a safety culture among citizens.

The safety programs include △(Children) Safety experience classes and safety musical performances △(Youth) School violence prevention and campaigns △(Young adults) POSCO Safety Experience Center training △(Seniors) Namdo Safety Academy, among others.

In addition, to strengthen safety education and spread safety culture, the city is training and operating 152 Safety Guardians, 10 Namdo Safety Academy instructors, 25 Safety Security Officers, and 20 Safety Monitor Volunteers.

◇ Robust Enrollment and Operation of Citizen Safety Insurance

The city promotes citizen safety insurance to help citizens who suffer personal injuries from disasters and accidents in daily life regain stability.

All citizens residing in Gwangyang City (including registered foreigners) are automatically enrolled without any separate procedures, and the city pays the insurance premiums collectively.

The insurance coverage items include △death from natural disasters △death and aftereffects from explosion, fire, collapse, landslide injuries △death and aftereffects from injuries while using public transportation △death and aftereffects from robbery injuries △drowning death △death and aftereffects from agricultural machinery injuries △treatment costs for injuries from school zone traffic accidents, with support up to a maximum limit of 10 million KRW.

Moreover, coverage can be duplicated regardless of the accident location or other insurance enrollments, and the claim expiration period is three years from the date of the accident.

◇ Improving Regional Safety Index through Cooperation with Related Organizations and Groups

To create a safe and livable city, the city plans to improve the regional safety index in seven areas (traffic accidents, natural disasters, fires, crimes, daily safety, suicide, infectious diseases) based on the regional safety index announced by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

The regional safety index is a quantified figure measuring local government safety levels using safety-related statistical data.

The city intends to reduce risk indicators (number of deaths and accidents) by 10% and focus on safety measures such as improving accident-prone areas and conducting campaign safety education for areas with low index grades like traffic accidents and fires.

◇ Strengthening Safety Management of Vulnerable Hazardous Facilities

To prevent facility safety accidents, the city will diagnose the safety management status of major vulnerable hazardous facilities around daily life and manage facilities with high risk through safety measures such as repairs and reinforcements and administrative guidance.

Currently, the city inspects and manages 365 facilities classified as Type 1, 2, and 3 under the "Special Act on the Safety and Maintenance of Facilities," 263 venues including event and local festival sites, children's playgrounds, and underground facilities.

Additionally, to prepare for natural disasters in summer, the city conducts inspections on stockpiled flood control materials and secures shortages, performs joint inspections of disaster warning facilities, establishes natural disaster response and emergency recovery systems, holds meetings with related organizations, and provides capacity-building education for natural disaster officers.

The city designates the 4th of every month as "Safety Inspection Day" to promote a city-wide safety culture movement and operates the Safety Report Center, allowing citizens to easily report hazards in daily life to raise safety awareness.

◇ 24-Hour Flawless Operation of the Integrated CCTV Control Center

The Gwangyang City CCTV Integrated Control Center plays a vital role in safeguarding daily life by installing a total of 1,011 CCTVs, including 348 for crime prevention, 261 in child protection zones, 73 for illegal parking, and 215 within elementary schools.

Since the establishment of the integrated control center in March 2013 until December last year, the city has handled a total of 2,469 incidents (821 on-site actions, 1,648 dispatched reports) through CCTV monitoring, achieving significant results such as traffic accident management, arresting thieves in vehicles, and cracking down on illegal dumping.

Also, 2,309 emergency bell responses installed in restrooms and other locations have effectively prevented major accidents.

This year, the city plans to add 15 crime prevention CCTVs and 16 emergency bells to secure a safe social foundation for citizens and gradually build an intelligent selective CCTV monitoring system to establish the foundation of a smart safety city where all citizens can live with peace of mind.

◇ Full Effort to Establish a Safety Foundation for Disaster and Accident Preparedness

The city has proactively maintained systematic disaster risk factors, which allowed it to pass through last year's heavy rains and the release from the Seomjin River Dam without major damage compared to other local governments in the same watershed, and it has not suffered significant damage from natural disasters over the past several years.

This year, to minimize damage from natural disasters, the city plans to establish a disaster forecast and warning system, manage natural disaster risk areas such as steep slopes, rivers, and reservoirs in advance, and prepare a rapid disaster response system.

First, the city will invest a total of 17.2 billion KRW in projects including △11 billion KRW for early warning system construction in disaster risk areas △2 billion KRW for national river maintenance △5.7 billion KRW for small stream maintenance △8.2 billion KRW for five steep slope collapse risk district maintenance projects △2 billion KRW for national river maintenance, aiming to prevent damage to citizens' lives and property.

Additionally, to respond swiftly to disaster situations during summer heavy rains, the city is building a smart flood management system as a New Deal project and is promoting permanent disaster recovery projects with 2.2 billion KRW in national funds for four Seomjin River river facilities in Jinwol-myeon and Daap-myeon, which were designated as special disaster areas due to last August's heavy rains.

Lee Sam-sik, Director of the Safety General Division, said, "We will continue to establish a proactive disaster response system and strengthen safety management to do our best in creating a happy city where citizens can live safely and comfortably."

Meanwhile, the city was selected as an "Excellent Institution" in last year's "Summer Natural Disaster Measures Promotion and Disaster Management Status Evaluation" conducted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety targeting local governments nationwide, receiving a commendation from the Minister of the Interior and Safety and an incentive of 300 million KRW.