Improvement Plan of Framework Act on the Management of DISASTERS and Safety for Effective Evacuation Strategies in South Korea

Abstract

Purpose: Framework act on the management of disasters and safety is the highest law covering disasters and safety in South Korea. Disaster management infrastructure has been expanded through the enactment and revi-sion of the Framework act on the management of disasters and safety. However, there is still a high awareness that disaster management should be led by the administration. In the modern society, where self-help is empha-sized above all else in the event of a disaster, it is difficult to expect effective disaster response through adminis-trative initiative alone. This study intends to review measures to improve Framework act on the management of disasters and safety through evacuation that enables the primary victims, the residents, to respond to disasters most effectively. Method: The items such as 'enhancement of disaster site response capacity' and 'emphasis on the role of local governments in disaster and safety management', which were newly revised in 2015, were reviewed. The prob-lems of the current Disaster Safety Act were reviewed from three perspectives: 'Incomplete disaster prevention ad-ministration in case of a disaster', 'Various aspects of local residents for evacuation', and 'Insufficient structure of public-private cooperative system for evacuation'. Results: First, it is necessary to recognize the incompleteness of disaster prevention administration during a disaster. Rather than increasing dependence on the administration, improvement should be made with the direc-tion of how the residents can increase their independence and self-reliance. Second, the evacuation order should be improved to be ‘situational information’ that informs residents that they are in a situation that makes them think of evacuation, rather than ‘action directive type’. Third, the Framework act on the management of disasters and safety should stipulate in detail the establishment and reinforcement of public-private cooperation networks that utilize the capabilities of residents. Conclusion: For effective evacuation in the event of a large-scale disaster, the response capacity between vari-ous actors in the local community must be quickly aggregated. In addition, through improvement of the Disaster Safety Act in the future, the evacuation plan should start with reestablishing the relationship between the admin-istration and residents. Residents should be aware of their own role for evacuation, and the administration should have a system that can support it as much as possible.