The government is launching emergency housing support and safety inspections for the temporary prefabricated homes of wildfire victims in Andong and Uiseong, North Gyeongsang Province, which were recently flooded by torrential rain.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said on the 21st that it will support the housing stability of wildfire victims in the Andong and Uiseong areas of North Gyeongsang Province, who suffered flood damage from torrential rain on the 18th, and will strengthen the safety management system for temporary prefabricated homes. Temporary prefabricated homes are temporary housing facilities provided to victims who lost their homes to disasters. Residents who lost their homes in last year's massive wildfires in the northern North Gyeongsang region are currently living in these facilities.
However, as rivers overflowed due to the recent torrential rain, temporary prefabricated homes in Gwimi-ri, Iljik-myeon, Andong, and Gugye-ri, Danchon-myeon, Uiseong, were flooded. No casualties occurred as residents were evacuated, but some temporary prefabricated homes suffered damage that dislodged them from their foundations.
The government will first provide emergency housing support together with local governments to help the affected victims stabilize their lives quickly. It plans to support victims' housing by utilizing temporary prefabricated homes held by North Gyeongsang Province and local governments. Victims in the Andong area will complete their relocation to nearby temporary prefabricated homes within three days, while in the Uiseong area, occupancy support will be provided sequentially, starting with households requiring relocation based on the results of facility safety inspections. In addition, the government will provide cooking utensils, emergency relief supplies, and essential household appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines that became unusable due to flooding.
The government will also conduct fact-finding surveys, full inspections, and long-term institutional improvements in parallel. The ministry, together with local governments, plans to conduct full safety inspections of 2,084 temporary prefabricated homes in five cities and counties in North Gyeongsang Province that suffered wildfire damage last year (659 in Andong, 192 in Uiseong, 463 in Cheongsong, 69 in Yeongyang, and 701 in Yeongdeok), and will also carry out joint on-site inspections with private-sector experts.
Items that can be improved immediately based on inspection results will be addressed on site, while tasks requiring institutional improvement will be pursued through a "Temporary Prefabricated Housing Institutional Improvement Task Force (TF)" involving private-sector experts and local governments, including revisions to operational guidelines.
Kim Kwang-yong, head of the Disaster and Safety Management Headquarters at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, "We will swiftly implement necessary relief, such as housing relocation and household appliance support, so that victims who lost their livelihoods to wildfires do not face another disaster risk in temporary residential facilities." He added, "Through fact-finding surveys and full inspections, we will improve safety hazards, and we will continuously supplement the safety management system through expert consultation and consultation with relevant agencies."
