Integrated Support Center Established at Agricultural Technology Center
Mayor Kim: "Support is Urgent... Declare a Special Disaster Area"
Anseong City in Gyeonggi Province is making an all-out effort to recover from the damage caused by last month's heavy snowfall, including the emergency injection of contingency funds.
On the 5th, Anseong City announced that it has decided to inject a total of 1.98 billion KRW in contingency funds, including the city’s contingency fund and Gyeonggi Province’s support contingency fund, to speed up the recovery from the snow damage.
Volunteers are carrying out recovery work at a vinyl greenhouse in Anseong City that collapsed due to heavy snowfall last month. Photo by Anseong City
The city plans to use 300 million KRW from the disaster management fund and 400 million KRW from the city’s contingency fund to support the rental of snow removal equipment, repair costs for equipment used by citizens engaged in snow removal work, and fuel expenses.
For public facilities, the city has completed damage assessments and begun full-scale recovery work. Large-scale facilities such as sports facilities have undergone structural safety inspections, and to ensure the safety of commuting students, the city has completed the demolition of high-risk structures such as pedestrian bridge canopies. However, the city explained that restoring 18 public facilities will require over 7.7 billion KRW, so it plans to request special grants and special adjustment grants from Gyeonggi Province and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, respectively.
Additionally, the city is prioritizing the demolition of collapsed farm greenhouses and livestock barns, disposal of deceased livestock, and deployment of equipment and manpower by injecting 1.28 billion KRW, including 830 million KRW in contingency funds supported by the province and 450 million KRW from the disaster management fund.
Since the day before, the city has also established and started operating an Integrated Support Center on the first floor of the Agricultural Technology Center located on Wonsam-ro in Bogae-myeon. The center provides support such as ▲damage complaint reception ▲consultation on recovery fund loans for natural disaster victims ▲consultation on deferral of national pension and national tax payments ▲consultation on crop disaster insurance.
The city recorded an average snowfall of 60.53 cm during the two days of heavy snow from the 27th to the 28th of last month, and as of the 5th, the damage scale was identified as 18 public facilities and 4,131 private facilities. The city estimated the total damage amount at 95 billion KRW.
Accordingly, the city has proposed to the government the declaration of a special disaster area for damage recovery and support. The declaration of a special disaster area varies depending on the financial capability index of each local government. In the case of Anseong City, the damage amount from this heavy snowfall far exceeds the declaration standard of 12.25 billion KRW, meeting the requirements for declaration. Once declared a special disaster area, the local government will receive additional national treasury support for part of the recovery costs. Affected residents will also receive additional support in 15 categories, including reductions in health insurance premiums and discounts on communication and electricity fees.
Kim Bora, mayor of Anseong City, said, "Unprecedented heavy snowfall caused damage throughout the city, and we are doing our best in recovery work," adding, "However, the situation exceeds the city’s financial and administrative capacity, so national support is more urgent than ever."
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