"Poor Response to Sejong City Disappearance Attributed to Faulty Reporting System"

Joint Fire and Police Staffing Introduced
in the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Situation Room

As the search for Mr. A, a man in his 40s who was recently confirmed missing in Naseong-dong, Sejong City, entered its fifth day with no trace of his whereabouts, authorities have come under scrutiny for their response. On July 21, the relevant agencies issued statements regarding the incident.

First, Sejong City explained that the disappearance occurred while the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (hereinafter referred to as the "DSCH") was operating due to heavy rainfall. The DSCH, which serves as the disaster control tower, only became aware of the swift water disappearance after seeing news reports. Unlike other cities and provinces, the fire department and police (including the autonomous police) did not participate in the DSCH, leading to criticism that the incident was not promptly recognized and the response was inadequate. In response to these criticisms, a DSCH official stated, "The initial recognition of the disappearance by the fire headquarters and its report to the DSCH occurred at 2:02 a.m. on July 18."

At the time of the report, the incident was described as a 'disappearance after a company dinner,' so it was not classified as a natural disaster casualty and was not handled or managed as a human casualty case.

Later, at 5:34 a.m. on the same day, the DSCH requested confirmation of the casualty report from the police and fire headquarters in order to update the damage situation as of 6 a.m. At that time, the DSCH received a response from the fire headquarters stating that it was not possible to confirm whether the disappearance was due to a storm and flood disaster.

Therefore, the DSCH classified the case as a disappearance and handled it as a general safety accident, following standard procedures. Since there were no casualties due to heavy rainfall, the DSCH reported this to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (hereinafter referred to as the "CDSCH") at 9 a.m. on the same day. The CDSCH, upon receiving the report, managed the incident as a safety accident rather than a disaster accident.

In other words, the police and fire authorities did not initially report the case as a natural disaster-related disappearance.

Now that it has been recognized as a disappearance resulting from a natural disaster, officials explained that, in order to prepare for similar cases in the future, they will improve the reporting procedures in the chain of command when human casualties occur, so that the determination of whether casualties are due to natural disasters can be made more thoroughly. They added, "To strengthen the DSCH's integrated situation management function, we will implement joint staffing of fire and police personnel in the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters situation room."