Ground Subsidence Now Classified as Social Disaster... Land Ministry Introduces Crisis Management Manual

Managed Through a Government-Wide Response System

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on April 6 that it will begin a full-scale, government-wide response based on the standard manual for crisis management of ground subsidence disasters, which was established on April 1.

Previously, in October of last year, the Enforcement Decree of the Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety was revised, classifying ground subsidence disasters as a type of social disaster. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was designated as the lead agency for disaster management and created the manual accordingly. In line with the disaster safety management system, the manual was established after collecting opinions from relevant agencies such as central administrative agencies and local governments, and undergoing related reviews.

In the event of a ground subsidence accident that is expected to cause, or has caused, large-scale damage, a four-stage crisis alert system—interest, caution, warning, and severe—has been introduced. The manual includes information necessary for disaster response, such as the missions and roles of each agency and crisis management activities for each stage. Based on the missions and roles defined in the standard manual, the basic system has been improved so that the crisis response work manuals of related agencies and the field action manuals of on-site response agencies can be linked together.

Kim Seokki, Director General for Construction Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, "We have established the basic framework for a government-wide response to ground subsidence disasters, and we will work in close cooperation with related agencies to operate the response system without any setbacks."

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