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Mayor Park Heong-joon Inspects Cold Wave Response for Vulnerable Groups Ahead of Lunar New Year Holiday

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that today (the 13th) at 10:00 a.m., prior to the Lunar New Year holiday period, it will visit facilities used by cold wave–vulnerable groups, such as homeless individuals and mobile workers, to inspect the response status.

This inspection has been arranged to review measures for vulnerable groups in preparation for the Lunar New Year holiday (February 14–18). The inspection will be conducted with the participation of Kim Kyung-duk, Vice Mayor for Administrative Affairs, along with officials from the City, Busanjin-gu, the Comprehensive Support Center for the Homeless, and the Mobile Worker Support Center.

First, the City will visit the Comprehensive Support Center for the Homeless to examine whether there are any difficulties in operating shelters, including the provision of emergency sleeping accommodations for homeless individuals.

The City operates three Comprehensive Support Centers for the Homeless as shelters. Among them, the Busan Hope Lighthouse Comprehensive Support Center, located in Gaya-dong, Busanjin-gu, which will be visited during this inspection, actively conducts outreach activities at sites such as Seomyeon Station to provide emergency sleeping accommodations and distribute winter supplies, thereby carrying out proactive cold wave relief efforts for homeless individuals.

Next, the City will visit the Smart Bus Shelter installed at the bus stop in front of Lotte Department Store in Busanjin-gu to inspect the operation status of heating facilities, air purification systems, and convenience facilities, and to meet with citizens to hear any inconveniences they may experience while using the facility.

A total of 43 Smart Bus Shelters are in operation throughout Busan Metropolitan City, primarily at bus stops in areas with high public transportation usage, and heating and cooling systems are operated to respond to cold waves and heat waves.

Finally, the City will visit the Seomyeon Mobile Worker Support Center, which operates as a cold wave shelter for mobile workers, to listen to users’ feedback regarding any inconveniences and to deliver winter supplies.

To improve the working environment of mobile workers during severe cold and heat, the City operates three base centers (Seomyeon, Sasang, and Haeundae) and four temporary shelters (Dongnae, Hadan, Myeongji, and Suyeong).

Mobile worker shelters provide indoor rest areas equipped with heating, as well as winter supplies such as hand warmers, and make available cold wave action guidelines to prevent cold-related illnesses such as hypothermia, thereby striving to create a safe working environment.

Meanwhile, the City is implementing comprehensive winter measures to prevent cold wave damage this winter. On November 14 of last year, the Vice Mayor for Administrative Affairs presided over a preemptive countermeasure inspection meeting with related agencies to discuss measures to prevent cold wave damage to vulnerable groups and to ensure facility safety management.

To ensure proactive, field-centered responses, the City is implementing strengthened measures, including reinforcing emergency response levels during cold wave advisories, expanding the operation of cold wave shelters and emergency evacuation facilities, increasing cold wave mitigation facilities, and actively promoting citizen action guidelines through both online and offline channels.

Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “As the unusually cold weather continues and we approach the Lunar New Year holiday, we will make every effort to ensure there are no gaps in the operation of cold wave mitigation facilities for vulnerable groups such as homeless individuals and mobile workers,” adding, “We will do our utmost until the very end to operate cold wave countermeasures so that there is no loss of life during this late-season cold wave.”