Incheon City Expands Seismic Reinforcement of Public Facilities Including Gymnasiums and Overpasses

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City announced on the 13th that it will strengthen earthquake safety measures following the recent magnitude 3.7 earthquake that occurred off the coast of Ganghwa-do.

The city plans to identify additional targets for seismic reinforcement projects as the seismic performance securing rate of public facilities in 10 districts and counties is low at 55.2% (482 out of 873 locations).

From 2011 to last year, the city carried out a total of 577 seismic reinforcement projects. This year, with a budget of 5.3 billion KRW, projects were planned for 39 public facilities including Dowon Gymnasium, Munhak IC Bridges 1 and 2, and Galsan 1-dong Administrative Welfare Center, but the city has decided to secure additional funds to expand the scope of these projects.

Additionally, for the first time this year, a project will be conducted to support 20% of the cost of seismic reinforcement construction for private buildings.

Eligible applicants are private buildings that have completed seismic performance evaluations but have not secured seismic performance, and applications will be accepted starting mid-month.

At 1:28 AM on the 9th, the Korea Meteorological Administration reported an earthquake of magnitude 3.7 occurred 25 km west of Ganghwa-gun, Incheon. 2023.1.9 [Provided by Korea Meteorological Administration] [Image source=Yonhap News]

The city will also continue to support costs for earthquake safety certification for private buildings.

Building owners can receive support of up to 30 million KRW for seismic performance evaluation costs and up to 10 million KRW for certification fees needed to obtain earthquake certification. From 2020 to last year, 11 private buildings applied for certification, and 8 of them obtained earthquake certification.

Park Byung-geun, head of the Citizen Safety Headquarters of Incheon City, said, "We plan to carry out various disaster prevention activities such as earthquake tabletop drills, promotion of earthquake action guidelines, and expansion of earthquake evacuation sites."

Meanwhile, on the 9th at around 1:28 a.m., a magnitude 3.7 earthquake occurred 25 km west of Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, and 35 earthquake-related reports were received by the Incheon Fire Department.