A total of 35 billion KRW will be invested in restoration costs for the wildfire-affected areas in Chungnam Province. Disaster relief payments to help affected residents return to their daily lives are also expected to be completed within this month.
On the 24th, Chungnam Province announced the current status of securing restoration funds for the wildfire-affected areas and the future restoration plans.
The wildfires occurred simultaneously from the 2nd to the 4th of last month in five cities and counties including Hongseong, destroying 1,720 hectares of forest and causing damage to 722 facilities and agricultural machinery. The estimated property damage alone amounts to approximately 34.022 billion KRW.
Fortunately, no casualties were reported due to the wildfires, but 63 houses were burned down, resulting in 113 displaced residents across 63 households.
Currently, among the displaced residents, 39 people from 23 households have moved to the homes of family members such as their children, while 76 people from 40 households are in the process of moving into or settling in public rental apartments managed by the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and prefabricated houses.
Chungnam Province registered these damage details in the National Disaster Management Information System and finalized the restoration plan after re-investigation by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.
The confirmed restoration budget totals 35 billion KRW, with 4.1 billion KRW allocated for private facility support such as living stabilization disaster relief funds and agricultural, forestry, and livestock damage support, and 30.9 billion KRW for public facility restoration including reforestation, landslide prevention, and cultural heritage restoration.
In particular, Chungnam Province plans to individually provide 2.379 billion KRW in living stabilization support funds, including housing costs and relief expenses due to house destruction, and 1.74 billion KRW in agricultural, forestry, and livestock damage support funds to wildfire-affected residents within this month to help them quickly recover their daily lives.
The living stabilization support funds will be distributed as follows: 2.341 billion KRW to 72 people who suffered housing damage, 9 million KRW in relief expenses to 9 tenants, 37 million KRW in relief expenses to 89 people, and 1 million KRW in living expenses per household.
The agricultural, forestry, and livestock damage support funds will be allocated as 525 million KRW for agriculture, 543 million KRW for forestry, 211 million KRW for agricultural machinery, and 461 million KRW for livestock facilities.
For public facility restoration, urgent logging will be conducted first to prevent flood and secondary damage, and large-scale reforestation projects will be carried out gradually over 2 to 3 years.
Meanwhile, the Chungnam Province Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters will continue operating until the disaster relief payments are completed by the end of this month, and from the 1st of next month, the responsible departments and city/county offices will take over the restoration activities.
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