Kim Byung-nae, Mayor of Gwangju Nam-gu, Accelerates Natural Disaster Prevention for 'Monsoon Preparedness'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Kim Byeongnae, Mayor of Nam-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, is stepping up efforts to prevent natural disasters by re-inspecting the underground sewage culverts around Baegun Square, which were completed last year, ahead of the rainy season.

Along with this, he gave special instructions to promote systematic responses from the preliminary natural disaster warning stage to protect lives and minimize damage.

According to Nam-gu on the 23rd, Mayor Kim recently revisited the underground sewage culvert site around Baegun Square, completed last year with a project budget of 10.4 billion KRW, to prepare for flood damage around Baegun Square.

He inspected the newly installed 522-meter section of the underground sewage culvert one by one, clearing sediment such as sand inside the culvert and checking the condition of the sewage manholes.

Also, as construction of Subway Line 2 is underway near the underground sewage culvert, he coordinated with the construction company, Halla Construction, to have them regularly manage 184 rainwater inlets around the construction site and stockpile 2,020 sandbags, completing the establishment of a cooperative system.

The efforts to prevent natural disasters extended to the disaster recovery project site at Hyangdeung Village Neighborhood Park in Hyo-deok-dong.

This site experienced a retaining wall collapse due to heavy rain last year, and he urged construction officials to do their utmost to prevent safety accidents.

Mayor Kim Byeongnae decided to further strengthen the duty system of the Nam-gu Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters as the full rainy season is expected to begin at the end of this month.

Additionally, to prevent various safety accidents, a ‘Special Measures Implementation Status Report Meeting for Safety Accident Prevention’ is being held daily until the 27th, attended by heads of nine departments including the Safety General Division and Construction Division, to inspect the safety management status of facilities in the district.

Mayor Kim said, “Prevention is most important to minimize damage caused by natural disasters and safety accidents, such as removing risk factors in advance,” and added, “We will make every preparation to protect residents in the district from natural disasters.”