Fire Agency and Local Government Officials Hold Joint Training on Disaster Management for Super High-Rise Buildings

The National Fire Agency announced on the 28th that it will hold the '2023 High-Rise Building Disaster Management Policy Sharing Joint Training' at Daegu EXCO on the 30th to efficiently promote policies for the safety management of high-rise buildings.

The joint training will be attended by about 100 disaster management officials from local governments nationwide and fire officials. It is designed to enhance policy understanding and secure momentum for policy implementation through communication and empathy between central and local governments.

A high-rise building refers to a building with 50 or more floors or a height of 200 meters or more. An underground-connected complex building refers to a building with 11 or more floors or a daily capacity of 5,000 or more people, where the underground part is connected to an underground station or underground shopping street. It includes buildings that have one or more of the following facilities: cultural and assembly facilities, sales facilities, transportation facilities, office facilities, lodging facilities, amusement facilities including amusement park businesses, general hospitals, and nursing hospitals.

As of the end of last year, there are 122 high-rise buildings and 346 underground-connected complex buildings in South Korea. Due to their large scale and complex structure, these high-rise and underground-connected complex buildings may face difficulties in evacuation and escape in the event of disasters or accidents.

The main content of the joint training includes explanations of major disaster management policies for high-rise and underground-connected complex buildings and policy proposals by sector. The National Fire Agency will present key policy initiatives such as amendments related to the 'Special Act on Disaster Management of High-Rise and Underground-Connected Complex Buildings' and the pre-disaster impact review consultation system.

Local government officials will directly propose improvements based on difficulties experienced in the field during policy implementation in disaster management. Additionally, disaster management experts from the private sector, such as the Korea Fire Technology Society, will be invited to share excellent domestic and international disaster management cases for high-rise buildings and discuss policy recommendations suitable for domestic circumstances.

Kwon Hyuk-min, Director of the Fire Prevention Bureau at the National Fire Agency, stated, “As buildings become larger and structures more complex, the risk of casualties in the event of disasters and accidents is increasing. We will continue to make efforts at the central level to establish a systematic and practical safety management system through diverse exchanges of opinions and case sharing among policy practitioners.”