Country Report
Republic of Korea 2001

CONTENTS
1. Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Activities(1) The Long Term Disaster Reduction Programsa. Implementation of the Disaster Prevention Plan
b. Disaster Impact Assessmentc. Implementation of Improvement of Disaster Prone Areas
d. Improvement of Safety of Small Rivers
e. National Institute for Disaster Prevention(2) Disaster Mitigation Activities
a. Implementing the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness for summer season
b. Disaster Prevention Education, Drills, and Public Relations(3) Disaster Preparedness Activities
a. Management of Disaster Statusb .Operating the Automatic Warning Facilities against Heavy rainfallc. Operating the Automatic Voice Warning Facilities2. Disaster Statistics

2. Disaster Statistics(1) Summary(2) Report on the Damage Caused by Typhoons and Floods: Sep. 2000. -Aug. 2001

1. Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Activities(1) The Long Term Disaster Reduction Programsa. Implementation of the Disaster Prevention Plan
○ To cope with disasters which are taking more diverse forms and larger in scale and to deﬁning
basic guidelines for national disaster prevention policy, the government has formulated the Basic
Five-Year Disaster Prevention Plan and the Yearly Disaster Prevention Action Plan.
- By the local Disaster Prevention Council, Local Plans for Disaster Prevention has been formulated
in accordance with the Basic Disaster Prevention Plan and local conditions.
- Designated government agencies and public institutions have formulated the Detailed Disaster
Prevention Operational Plan to reduce the disasters that they are responsible for.

○ During the Fifth Basic Disaster Prevention Plan Period (1997-2001) when "DisasterPreparedness" is employed as a policy concept, the government funneled more than about $24
billion into 22 key areas such as forestation, ﬂood control, disaster prevention technology
development, and etc.
- Consistent with the Yearly Disaster Prevention Action Plan, the government has invested morethan $4.3 billion to forestation, river improvement, disaster prevention countermeasures, disasterprevention technology development, and etc. in 2001.
○ During the Sixth Basic Disaster Prevention Plan Period (2002-2006), the government will employ
6 strategies, i.e., Implementation of Comprehensive Disaster Prevention and Preparedness
Countermeasures, based on the concept of "Establishment of Disaster Resistant Country."b. Disaster Impact Assessment (DIA)○ To protect lives and property in downstream areas from the impact of large scale development,
the DIA was introduced in 1996 and the subject range of DIA is expanded in 2001 facilitating
disaster prevention facilities such as retention reservoir in the development area.
- Subject Categories : 6 ﬁeld 16 categories → 6 ﬁeld 24 categories- Subject Range : over 1.8 million m2 → over 0.3 million m2○ For small-scale Project less than 0.3 million m2, mayor of local government is responsible toassess the disaster impact. The subject categories are same as those of the central DIA's.
c. Implementation of Improvement of Disaster Prone Areas○ Korea identiﬁed 537 sites most susceptible to inundation, collapse, and isolation by typhoons
and ﬂoods, and labeled them as Disaster Prone Areas. A total of $1.1 billion will be invested forwide-ranging improvements for seven years from 1998 to 2004.
○ Under this plan, $323 million has been invested to improve 306 disaster prone areas since 1998,
and $54 million has been invested to 95 areas in 2001.
d. Improvement of Safety of Small Rivers○ Small rivers in Korea are vulnerable to overﬂow and one of the main causes of ﬂooding. Thus,
the ﬁrst step of the improvement for vulnerable small rivers is to refurbish 820km from 2000 to2009 at the cost of about $3.9 billion.
○ Since 2001, small river sites totaling 500km were refurbished at the cost of $20 million, and $12
million has been invested to 250km in 2001.
e. National Institute for Disaster Prevention○ For the recent destructive natural phenomena and disasters which are taking more diverse
forms and larger in scale, National Institute for Disaster Prevention (NIDP) has conductedsystematic and scientiﬁc research in the ﬁeld of disaster prevention. The research results havebeen adopted as national disaster prevention policies through pilot projects.
○ NIDP has spearheaded 70 research projects such as "Introduction of Flood Insurance","Standard for Small River Facilities", "Evaluation of Slope stability Problems", and etc.
○ NIDP has ﬁnished 19 research projects in 2001 such as "Development of Disaster Impact
Assessment Manual for Practical use" and "Development of Disaster Prevention Drill Program".

(2) Disaster Mitigation Activities
a. Implementing the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness for summer season
To reduce the loss of life, property damage, and economic hardship caused by natural disasters,
the Korean government has designated the period from March 1 to May 31 in 2001 as the "DisasterPrecaution Period." Several action plans were put into practice during this period.
1) Inspection and Maintenance of Large-Scale Construction Sites○ For large-scale construction sites, such as subways, golf courses, dams, and residential
development sites, Disaster Preparedness Plans are prepared and maintained, assigning multiple
government oﬃcials to monitor large-scale construction sites and setting construction priority forthe landslide and ﬂood prevention.
2) Inspection and Maintenance of Disaster Prevention Facilities○ Plans for repairing disaster prevention facilities including retaining walls, embankments, andreservoirs was established and inspecting and repairs for the facilities were completed before therainy season.
3) Securing Equipment and Facilities for Emergency Countermeasures○ Equipment and facilities for emergency countermeasures have been secured according to theneed averaged over the last ten year period and local conditions.
4) Fund for the Natural Disaster Countermeasures○ For proactive disaster prevention activities and emergency recovery during severe naturaldisasters, a fund has been allocated in 16 cities and 232 districts since 1997.
b. Disaster Prevention Education, Drills, and Public Relation
To cope with disasters in minimizing the loss of lives and properties, each local government
implements full readiness and close coordination in disaster situations, Disaster Prevention
Education and Drills. Especially in the "Disaster Prevention Day", May 25, comprehensive disasterprevention drill at the national level was held, which includes programs such as life saving,
emergency relief, recover measures, etc.
1) Disaster Prevention Education○ Staﬀ members related to disaster prevention were educated during the Disaster Preparedness
Period to enhance their ability to cope with natural disasters. The program included planning,
managing critical situations, damage investigation method, and studying relevant laws.
2) Emergency Drills and Practice○ In order to enhance rapid responses to disasters, exercises under computer-simulated disasterconditions, a comprehensive exercise for disaster prevention, and emergency drills speciﬁc to eachregion were carried out in each local districts.
- Exercise under computer-simulated disaster conditions: to develop the ability for managing
disasters, the exercise hosted by all the national and local disaster prevention headquarters wascarried out.
- Emergency drills speciﬁc to each region: local governments carried out their own emergency drills
for conditions that are speciﬁc to their own regions.
3) Comprehensive Exercise for Disaster Management at the National level○ On May 25, 2001, a comprehensive exercise for disaster management was carried out at theGok-Gyo River, Ah-San City, Chung-Cheong-Nam-Do Province. Most of the disaster prevention
related staﬀs participated in the exercise.
○ This exercise focuses on the strengthening a close coordination between related agencies anddeveloping the ability in disaster situations management. The drill programs includes life saving,
emergency relief and recovery measures for the lifeline facilities.
4) Public Relations for Disaster Prevention○ Following the recommendation by UN, Korea has designated May 25 as "National Disaster
Prevention Day" to promote the public participation and awareness of disaster prevention.
○ For promoting awareness of disaster preparedness, several events for the "National Disaster
Prevention Day" such as inspection of disaster prevention facilities, a campaign for disasterprevention, photo display of disaster stricken areas, and a contest for disaster prevention posters
were held.
○ Especially, TV broadcasting stations were put under a obligation to send disaster preparedness
program for citizens on the air. Additionally, to promote the disaster preparedness awareness to thepeople, several media such as large-scale advertising sign, stickers on disaster preparedness,educational VCR ﬁlms were used.

(3) Disaster Preparedness Activities
a. Management of Disaster Status○ The Korean government has designated the period from June 15 to October 15 as the "Disaster
Preparedness Period". Korea National Disaster Prevention and Countermeasures Headquarters(KNDPCH) and competent local authorities prepare to manage possible disasters and maintain theclose cooperation systems.
○ During the regular time, KNDPCH's Disaster Report Center operates 24 hours a day with 4oﬃcials. During the Disaster Preparedness Period, 6 oﬃcials work responding the disaster situation.
- When the weather forecast issues an advisory against possible heavy rain (preparatory phase),
the number of staﬀ expands to 16, and when there is a more serious warning concerning heavy
rainfall or a typhoon (alert phase), 34 oﬃcials are placed on alert.
- When disaster strikes nationwide (emergency phase), 52 oﬃcials will operate in a state ofemergency and manage the situation in a timely and comprehensive manner.
○ Korea National Disaster Prevention and Countermeasures Headquarters supervises the entire
operation of disaster countermeasures management to minimize the loss of life and properties,
emergency countermeasures, citizen's evacuation, saving injured, and warning disaster status, etc.
- Relief activities, anti-epidemic measures, timely recovery, and reconstruction planning areimplemented for rapid rehabilitation.

○ Local Disaster Prevention and Countermeasures Headquarters operate 24 hours a day inaccordance with KNDPCH's time frame.
b. Operating the Automatic Warning Facilities against Heavy Rainfall○ Automatic warning facilities which provide sirens to the campers or hikers in mountainous valley
will be installed for 115 areas from 1996 to 2004 with investment of $31 millions.
- Under this plan, $11 million has been invested to 28 areas. In 2001, $4.6 million has been
invested to 20 areas.
○ During the heavy rainfall season last year, 1,741 warnings in 48 areas were given to over 63,000
campers helping then pre-evacuate to reduce the number of casualties.
c. Operating the Automatic Voice Warning Facilities○ The automatic voice warning facilities which provide disaster status to the citizens by phone andtown speakers will be installed in 232 municipals from 2000 to 2002 with investment of $8.6
million- Under this plan, $5.4 million has been invested to 179 municipals. In 2001, $3.3 million has been
invested to 43 municipals.
○ During the heavy rainfall season last year, 2,241 warnings were given to 330,000 citizens.

2. Disaster Statistics (Sep. 2000 -Aug. 2001)(1) Summary○ During the period of September 1 to December 31 in 2000, 6 people died and $112 million
worth of property damage was incurred due to typhoons and torrential rains.
○ During the period of January 1 to August 31 in 2001, 82 people died and approximately $951
million worth of property damage was incurred due to 5 major disasters, that is, torrential rains.
○ Hence, during the period from September 1, 2000 to August 31, 2001, the total damage causedby six natural disasters was 88 casualties and $1,063 million in property damage. (Detailed
damages are given in Table 1).

Table 1. Total Damage caused by Natural Disaster during the Period from Sep. 2000 to Aug.
2001
Classiﬁcation

Units

Casualties(Dead orMissing)

Person

Displaced
PersonFarmland
Lost or Buried

Sep.- Dec.,
Jan. 2000
Aug., 2001
682

Total

88

Family/Person 518/1,766 691/2,353 1,209/4,119
ha59

1,356

1,415

HouseDestroyed orUnit

194

396590

U.S.$ million

112

951

1,063

Damaged
PropertyDamage