Chungmu Art Center Disaster Preparedness Collaboration Training with Fire Station and Police Station
The rehearsal site of the '2023 Disaster Response Safety Korea Drill' held at Chungmu Art Center on the 31st of last month. (Photo by Jung-gu Office)
Jung-gu, Seoul (Mayor Kim Gil-seong) announced on the 2nd that the "2023 Disaster Response Safe Korea Drill" has been conducted from the 23rd of last month until the 3rd of this month. The Safe Korea Drill is a nationwide exercise carried out through collaboration between the government and the private sector to strengthen the capacity to respond to large-scale disasters such as fires and earthquakes, aiming to protect the lives and property of the people.
In the main drill held on the 3rd at Chungmu Art Center, a scenario is assumed where a complex disaster occurs, including a gas explosion and fire caused by an earthquake, resulting in 30 casualties. A total of 14 organizations, including Jungbu Fire Station, Jungbu Police Station, Namdaemun Police Station, National Medical Center, and Army Unit 3537, collaborate to establish an integrated disaster site support headquarters and a disaster safety countermeasure headquarters.
What is particularly different this year is that the disaster response field training and discussion training are conducted simultaneously. This was improved following criticism that conducting the two trainings separately last year was far from actual situations.
For this main drill, Jung-gu held more than 10 meetings since May to share opinions with related organizations. After the first rehearsal and consulting, discussion training, and the second rehearsal last month, the final rehearsal was held on the 31st.
In the field response training, assuming the sudden occurrence of a disaster situation, joint field training involving civil, government, military, and police is conducted with the integrated support headquarters and emergency rescue control team (fire station). Each organization performs its assigned tasks such as evacuation, rescue, damage recovery, and restoration, and the operational system is checked for parts requiring collaboration.
In the discussion training linked with the field training, disaster situations reported from the field are received and recovery measures are discussed. Situation judgment meetings are held for each disaster scenario to check the response system and discuss problems and improvement plans. Unexpected situations are also simulated using the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s situation message question bank.
From the 24th to the 30th, a joint private sector drill was also promoted. Emergency evacuation drills assuming disaster occurrences were conducted at the NongHyup Central Association and Woori Bank headquarters, where all employees and visitors inside the buildings quickly evacuated outside. Training on the use of fire extinguishers and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was also provided.
A public experience group composed of ordinary citizens and experts is also operated. The public experience group will directly participate in the drill to evaluate the overall process and provide feedback.
Kim Gil-seong, Mayor of Jung-gu, emphasized, “To respond flawlessly to disasters that can occur anytime and anywhere, training that closely resembles actual situations and close cooperation with related organizations are essential,” and added, “Through this drill, we will check and supplement our disaster response capabilities to create a safe Jung-gu.”
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