Established for Swift and Accurate Disaster Assessment and Initial Response to Frequent Sinkhole Incidents
Ten Departments and Four Working Teams Organized Under the Deputy Mayor, Operating Continuously from April 28
Mapo-gu (District Mayor Park Kangsoo) has swiftly established the "Mapo-gu Sinkhole Countermeasures Headquarters" on April 28 to proactively prevent the recent series of ground subsidence (sinkhole) incidents and to respond actively to the situation.
After a sinkhole occurred near Aeogae Station on April 13, raising concerns, additional ground subsidence and a road pothole emerged at 22 Yanghwa-ro 19-gil around midnight on April 23, prompting emergency repair work.
The site of the incident is an area with high pedestrian traffic and a village bus route, and with large-scale construction underway nearby, extra caution regarding safety was necessary.
In response, Mapo-gu immediately demanded that the construction site take prompt action to address inconveniences experienced by residents and to ensure pedestrian safety. Additionally, a "Field Civil Complaint Office" was set up near the construction site, allowing designated officials to resolve complaints on-site.
Furthermore, on April 25, emergency repairs were carried out after consecutive sinkholes appeared at 161 Daehyeong-ro at 3:00 p.m. and in the alley at 25 Manrijaeyeot-gil at 8:50 p.m. on the same day.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, sewage pipes are classified as aged if they have been in use for more than 30 years. Mapo-gu has a total of 395 km of sewage pipelines, of which over 204 km have exceeded 30 years of service. This accounts for 52% of the district's entire sewage system.
Approximately 300 billion won is required to repair all the aged sewage pipes, but the budget allocated to Mapo-gu for 2025 is only 4.5 billion won, which is enough to repair just 3.7 km of old pipelines.
Given this situation, the current annual budget is far from sufficient to repair all the aged sewage pipelines, making active support at the national level urgently necessary.
Mapo-gu determined that temporary measures alone would not provide a fundamental solution, and thus established the Sinkhole Countermeasures Headquarters.
The headquarters, led by the Deputy Mayor, is coordinated by the Resident Safety Division and consists of 10 related departments, including the Road Improvement Division, Water Management Division, and Building Support Division, organized into four working teams.
The main functions include swiftly identifying the causes and responding to sinkhole occurrences, overseeing recovery operations, and issuing mobilization orders, evacuation orders, and traffic restrictions as needed. The headquarters also investigates damage caused by sinkholes and formulates recovery plans, carrying out post-incident management activities in parallel.
The headquarters will operate continuously starting April 28 and is located in the Resident Safety Division on the 11th floor of the Mapo-gu Office.
Following its five-year plan from 2023 to 2027, Mapo-gu is sequentially inspecting all 377 km of district roads and actively addressing areas requiring repair by utilizing subsurface inspections and advanced technologies.
Park Kangsoo, Mayor of Mapo-gu, stated, "Mapo-gu has a large number of aged sewage pipelines, which could lead to major accidents, so a prompt response is essential. Since excessive caution is the best approach to safety, we will do our utmost to prevent sinkholes and work with Seoul City and others to ensure that residents can go about their daily lives without anxiety."
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