Gangdong-gu (Mayor: Lee Hae-sik) prepared the ‘2018 comprehensive counterplan in preparation for scorching heat’ to protect vulnerable social groups from scorching heat and for the safety management of weak facilities in response to heat waves.

 Gangdong-gu will appoint a period lasting up to the end of September as a period of countermeasures against scorching heat and will form a T/F team to operate the Gangdong-gu headquarters for measures against heat waves. There will be an inspection of the roles of each department and cooperative systems, visits and phone calls made to elders who live alone to check on their safety, improvements of emergency communication networks, operation of heat wave rest areas and other protective countermeasures for vulnerable social groups in preparation for the scorching heat.

The T/F team will be organized of five units, which will include a master situation unit, a life support unit and an equipment measures unit and will be comprised of a total of thirty people. The T/F team will form a regular work shift system with the seventeen community service centers to manage the overall heat situation in the case of an official announcement of a heat wave warning as well as offer prompt correspondence to emergencies.

 As measures against the scorching summer heat, Gangdong-gu will first administer disaster helpers. In order to protect vulnerable social groups from heat waves, Gangdong-gu will select 1,224 disaster helpers amongst senior caretakers, home watchers, visiting health specialists, village heads and voluntary disaster prevention organizations to check on the welfare of elders who live alone, those who need assistance with walking and the chronically ill through visits and phone calls as well as operate in-depth health care with visiting nursing and visiting medical treatment.

 Second, Gangdong-gu will operate designated heat wave shelters. Gangdong-gu currently operates 229 ‘heat wave shelters’ such as community service centers, elders’ sarangbang and financial institutions to protect citizens who are vulnerable to heat. These shelters can accommodate approximately 8,000 people at one time. Gangdong-gu has pushed forward with inspection of heat wave shelters to be performed by the 25th for advance preparations concerning the summer heat waves.

Gangdong-gu plans to focus on flexible operation of its heat wave shelters through extended operation during official announcements of heat wave warnings and support of cooling costs so that many vulnerable social groups can utilize the shelters.

 Third, Gangdong-gu will install and operate canopies at crosswalks. Canopies were installed last year and received positive feedback from residents, and there are currently a total of thirty-four canopies installed and in operation at twenty-one locations. Their opening/closing operation, structure, tents and ropes were inspected in March and they have been in operation since April. Canopies help citizen avoid the sweltering heat as they walk and prevent heat strokes and hyperthermia that can occur as a result of long exposed hours in the heat.

In addition, Gangdong-gu will enforce safety inspections of summer gas supply facilities and oil selling businesses, enforce the spraying of water once a day on roads with four lanes or more when there is an emergency heat wave warning, and will also use publicity pamphlets, the Gangdong website and SNS to prevent accidents while focusing on publicizing citizen behavioral know-how in preparation for the scorching heat.

 Mayor Lee Hae-sik stated, “We ask that our citizens restrain from performing outdoor activities during emergency heat wave warnings and visit the heat wave shelter nearest to them,” and requested that citizens pay attention to health care so as not to suffer from injuries from the heat.

  <Related Photos>

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  Heat wave shelter

  

  Crosswalk canopy

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