In 2017, about 27,000 people were killed nationwide by disasters and safety-related accidents. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — The government aims to reduce the number of disaster and safety-related fatalities by 40 percent from the 2017 level over the next five years, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said Thursday.
The 40-percent reduction is a key point of the nation’s Fourth Basic Disaster Management Plan, which has been finalized after consultations among 28 government ministries and agencies and deliberation by the Central Safety Management Commission, the ministry said.
In 2017, about 27,000 people were killed nationwide by disasters and safety-related accidents.
Under the latest plan, the government will lower such fatalities to 16,000 in the 2020-2024 period, marking a fall of 40 percent from the 2017 level.
If the goal is accomplished, South Korea’s safety ranking will rise to 13th among OECD member states.
For that purpose, the government will focus its policy measures on enhancing the protection of children, elderly people and others vulnerable to accidents and reducing traffic accidents, industrial disasters and suicides, the ministry said.
In addition, the government will exert greater policy efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change and prevent large-scale and hybrid disasters.
Those policies will be implemented under four strategies — inclusive safety management, preventive living safety, field-based disaster response, and science and technology-based disaster management, the ministry explained.
“Through the Fourth Basic Disaster Management Plan, the government will further endeavor to prevent disasters and safety-related accidents and improve the efficiency in its preparation and response to them. To that end, it will increase budget spending and science and technology innovation in those fields,” an official at the interior ministry said.
(Yonhap)
