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Busan Metropolitan City Conducts Final Inspection for Summer Natural Disaster Preparedness… Launches Full-Scale Emergency Response System

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Busan Metropolitan City announced that Acting Mayor Kim Kyung-duk held the “Final Inspection Meeting for Summer Natural Disaster Preparedness” at 10:00 a.m. today (May 13) at the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on the 15th floor of City Hall and declared the launch of a full-scale emergency response system aimed at minimizing damage from heavy rain, typhoons, and other flood-related disasters.

Previously, on March 25, the city established a task force focused on six major flood disaster risk types, headed by Acting Mayor Kim Kyung-duk, and carried out three preparatory task force meetings, one field response drill, and inspections at 83 sites.

Today’s meeting was organized to conduct a final review of key countermeasures by each institution and to officially launch the citywide emergency response system for summer natural disasters.

The meeting, chaired by Acting Mayor Kim, was attended by approximately 500 participants, including officials from Busan Metropolitan City headquarters and departments related to flood and storm management, representatives from all 16 districts and counties, the police and fire departments, the Busan Regional Meteorological Administration, the Busan Regional Office of Oceans and Fisheries, Busan Port Authority, and affiliated public corporations and agencies.

Participating institutions plan to focus their review on major measures such as strengthening the real-time monitoring system for climate crisis response, expanding infrastructure centered on six major risk types and carrying out intensive inspections, establishing a disaster safety network focused on vulnerable populations, and reinforcing support for disaster victims.

First, beginning in May, Busan Metropolitan City has officially launched “Busan Safety ON,” an integrated monitoring platform for flood and storm preparedness that enables real-time monitoring of river water levels and closed-circuit television systems.

In particular, considering Busan’s topographical characteristics with many sloped areas, the city plans to begin inspections of steep slopes this year through specialized institutions. AI-based steep slope safety monitoring systems will also be introduced for Grade C steep slopes, enabling sensors to issue warning alerts to local governments when risk thresholds are reached.

In addition, the city has expanded and reorganized risk categories into six types this year. Busan Metropolitan City added three locally tailored risk categories to the three major risk types managed by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The city plans to expand disaster prevention infrastructure and strengthen intensive inspections for all six risk categories by June.

To improve underground space safety, the city plans to install fall prevention facilities at all 22,339 manholes within priority management zones by June and complete cleaning and maintenance for 130,000 stormwater drains.

In June, the city also plans to complete erosion control projects at 18 landslide-prone areas and finish the Dongcheon seawater intake facility maintenance project. Major construction processes at the Suyeong River Hoedong District national river project site will also be completed in advance to prevent damage.

To prepare for coastal wave overtopping, detached breakwaters totaling 500 meters in length are being installed in the Suyeong Bay Natural Disaster Risk Improvement Zone. Intensive inspections have also been conducted at large construction sites vulnerable to collapse and flooding to identify and eliminate risk factors.

To address strong winds and building wind tunnel effects, the city will continue implementing the strengthened emergency work system introduced last year in accordance with weather advisories and will activate a rapid information-sharing system during dangerous situations.

In particular, the city identified 363 areas at risk of casualties this year, an increase of 25 locations compared to last year, and established quantitative evacuation and access control criteria. Inspections of 83 priority management zones with high disaster risk were completed by April under the responsibility of bureau directors and deputy local government heads, and the city plans to reexamine implementation status of disaster prevention measures in May.

Finally, to establish a closely connected disaster safety network centered on vulnerable populations, the city selected 804 priority evacuation targets in advance and pre-matched them with a resident evacuation support group expanded threefold from the previous year to 2,608 members. Face-to-face training sessions were also conducted during the first half of this year to provide guidance on emergency actions and familiarize residents with evacuation sites.

Beginning this year, when casualties occur, the city will dispatch team leader-level initial response liaison officers to affected areas and operate dedicated support teams for victims’ families and disaster victim support centers to help victims return to normal life as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Busan Metropolitan City plans to establish the “2026 Comprehensive Summer Flood and Storm Disaster Countermeasure Plan” within May, incorporating the matters reviewed during today’s meeting.

Acting Mayor Kim Kyung-duk of Busan Metropolitan City stated, “Sudden torrential downpours and record-breaking heavy rainfall during the summer always cause damage beyond our expectations, so it is essential to maintain thorough preparedness based on worst-case scenarios at all times.” He added, “Please review from the beginning all situations that have been inspected and practiced so far and make sure there are no shortcomings in our flood and storm disaster response preparations.”