Gyeonggi Province to Provide Allowances for Local Autonomous Disaster Prevention Groups... First in Korea to Produce Certification Badges

Gyeonggi Province is implementing measures to revitalize local autonomous disaster prevention groups, such as requiring cities and counties to provide allowances for their activities and introducing an activity excellence certification badge, in order to strengthen disaster response capabilities in the private sector.

The local autonomous disaster prevention groups are private organizations in which local residents voluntarily participate. They carry out activities to protect residents from disasters, such as monitoring areas at risk of disasters or casualties and assisting with resident evacuations. In Gyeonggi Province, a total of 9,320 members are active across 31 cities and counties.

Gyeonggi Province plans to support these groups so that they can quickly control hazardous areas and carry out evacuation activities, especially as disasters are becoming more complex and larger in scale due to factors such as climate change and urban aging.

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

First, Gyeonggi Province has expanded the scope of its support for strengthening the capabilities of local autonomous disaster prevention groups in cities and counties. The 930 million won in support funds can now be used not only for purchasing disaster response supplies and equipment rental fees, but also for allowances for convening members of the disaster prevention groups.

Accordingly, when members are called to participate in activities, they will receive an activity allowance of about 10,000 won per hour, equivalent to the overtime pay for a Grade 9 public official. Village heads and neighborhood representatives who join the local autonomous disaster prevention groups will also be eligible to receive allowances when participating in disaster response activities.

Additionally, to strengthen the capabilities of these groups in each city and county, the province will provide 3.1 billion won in provincial funds (100 million won per city or county) to support training for the disaster prevention groups. To boost pride and encourage active participation, Gyeonggi Province will also produce and distribute, for the first time in the country, activity excellence certification badges that can be attached to uniforms according to cumulative activity hours, ranging from 50 hours to 500 hours.

Lee Jongdon, Director of Safety Management at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "We hope that this support will strengthen the activities of autonomous disaster prevention groups, enabling residents to protect themselves and their neighbors from disasters. We will do our utmost to safeguard the safety of provincial residents through continued support for these groups."