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Busan Metropolitan City Signs Agreement on Disaster Relief and Support for Foreign Nationals and Others and Holds Appointment Ceremony for Disaster Response Interpreters

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Busan Metropolitan City, led by Mayor Chun Jae-soo, is moving to establish a “Busan-style disaster safety net for foreign nationals” that will eliminate language barriers at disaster sites and provide comprehensive support to foreign victims, from rescue through their return to daily life.

At 4:00 p.m. today, August 20, Busan Metropolitan City will sign an Agreement on Disaster Relief and Support for Foreign Nationals and Others and hold an appointment ceremony for the Busan Disaster Response Interpreter Team at the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters conference room at City Hall. Participating organizations include the Busan Fire and Disaster Headquarters, the Busan Chapter of the Korean Red Cross, the Center for Emergency Response Technology and Policy Research at Dong-A University, the Busan Global City Foundation, and the Busan Foreign Residents Center.

The agreement and appointment of the interpreter team are intended to bring together the participating organizations’ capabilities in disaster-site response, relief and psychological support, disaster-response research and technology, and support networks for foreign nationals so that, when disasters occur, foreign nationals are not excluded from necessary assistance because of differences in nationality or language.

With this agreement, the city plans to fully launch a disaster support system for foreign nationals that extends from rescue and evacuation in the early stages of a disaster through medical care, relief, temporary living assistance, psychological recovery, and return to daily life.

The agreement signing ceremony is expected to be attended by Lee Byung-seok, Assistant Mayor of Citizen Safety Office; Lee Jin-ho, Chief of the Busan Fire and Disaster Headquarters; Gu Jeong-hoe, Chairman of the Busan Chapter of the Korean Red Cross; Lee Dong-gyu, Director of the Center for Emergency Response Technology and Policy Research at Dong-A University; Na Yun-bin, Acting CEO of the Busan Global City Foundation and Director-General of the Tourism and MICE Bureau; and Lee In-kyung, Director of the Busan Foreign Residents Center.

Otsuka Tsuyoshi, Consul General of Japan in Busan; Doan Phuong Lan, Consul General of Vietnam in Busan; Lea Victoria Carada, Consul General of the Philippines in Busan; Wu Libei, Deputy Consul General of China in Busan; as well as Kim In-geuk, Honorary Consul of Côte d’Ivoire, and Jeong Jin-seong, Honorary Consul of Germany, representing the honorary consular corps, will also attend, adding further significance to the event.

At the heart of the agreement is the establishment of the Busan Disaster Response Interpreter Team, consisting of approximately 30 interpreters covering 16 languages.

Focusing on major languages including English, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese and German, the interpreter team will be deployed to on-site command posts, medical facilities and temporary accommodation facilities when disasters occur. The interpreters will explain evacuation and relief procedures and available medical assistance programs, while serving as a communication bridge between victims and rescue, medical and relief organizations.

In particular, the “Busan-style disaster support for foreign nationals,” taking concrete shape through this agreement and the appointment of the interpreter team, focuses on building a comprehensive disaster support system that ensures uninterrupted assistance from the moment a disaster occurs until victims return to their daily lives.

Starting with rescue, evacuation and emergency medical care in the early stages of a disaster, the city will closely coordinate each phase of assistance, including temporary accommodation, relief supplies, information on victim support programs, and disaster psychological recovery, to operate a seamless support system covering on-site rescue, medical care and relief, stabilization of daily living, psychological recovery, and return to daily life.

Busan is home to approximately 88,000 foreign residents as of November 2024, while the number of foreign visitors exceeded 2.42 million in the first half of this year. In light of these figures, the city plans to continue strengthening its disaster response capabilities for foreign nationals so that differences in language or institutional familiarity do not lead to disparities in rescue and relief services.

Going forward, the city plans to establish a “Busan-style public-private-academic disaster cooperation system” by closely linking the fire service’s on-site response capabilities, the Korean Red Cross’s experience in disaster relief and psychological support, the university’s disaster-response research and technological expertise, and the support networks for foreign nationals operated by the Busan Global City Foundation and the Busan Foreign Residents Center. The aim is to provide seamless support from the initial disaster response through victims’ recovery.

The city will also make education and training programs for interpreters on disaster-site response, as well as joint exercises with related organizations, a regular practice. It will continue to enhance an action-oriented response system so that interpreters can be rapidly deployed and connected to disaster sites when emergencies occur.

Mayor Chun Jae-soo is expected to say, “The role of the interpreters being appointed today is extremely important. We will make Busan a city where everyone who lives here and everyone who visits can feel safe, and where no one is left behind even in times of disaster.”