HANAM — The city of Hanam in Gyeonggi Province ran a 24-hour emergency response system throughout the Chuseok holiday, moving preemptively on emergencies and complaints about daily inconveniences in an effort focused on resident safety.
From the 24th, the first day of the holiday, the city organized dedicated emergency duty teams by field — including disaster safety, traffic measures and public health — alongside a central situation room, operating a round-the-clock response network, Hanam said on the 28th.
Mayor Lee Hyun-jae began with an early morning visit to a household waste transfer station on the 24th, then carried out on-site inspections of key safety posts on the 25th, the day of Chuseok, including the city hall duty office, the central situation room, the public health center, the fire station and the 112 police command center at Hanam Police Station.
He then visited the special traffic measures situation room at the transportation policy division, reviewing traffic flow measures for holiday travel and the safe operation of public transit, directing the holiday emergency posture in person.
The city's rapid disaster response capability also proved its worth in an emergency fire during the holiday. When a fire broke out at a neighborhood commercial facility in Pungsan-dong in the early hours of the 26th, the disaster safety situation room shared information with fire authorities in real time and responded immediately.
Firefighting work by the authorities and a quick, systematic response allowed some 60 people, including mothers and newborns at an obstetrics clinic and postpartum care center in the building, to evacuate safely without casualties. The city immediately reviewed plans to provide temporary shelter in case smoke prevented re-entry, and completed follow-up steps without disruption in coordination with the fire station, including arranging for evacuees to return home and directing them to other hospitals.
Continuous monitoring to protect resident safety and convenience also proceeded without gaps. The integrated CCTV control room at Hanam's bus rapid transit transfer center used about 4,000 cameras across the city to keep close, round-the-clock watch over major roads, crowded areas and locations vulnerable to crime.
The city also strengthened cleanup measures to address inconvenience from accumulated household waste. Environmental workers took only the day of Chuseok off, returning to the field throughout the holiday to collect garbage and clean roadsides, maintaining a pleasant urban environment.
To minimize gaps in medical care, the city promptly provided information on pharmacies on duty during the holiday. It also resolved on-the-ground complaints quickly, immediately deploying a road repair team in response to a request to clear debris from a traffic accident at the Misa Station intersection, heading off the risk of a secondary accident.
"Thanks to the emergency duty staff who stayed on site during the Chuseok holiday, the environmental workers who devoted themselves to keeping the city clean, and the control room personnel who watched over the city's safety around the clock, residents were able to spend a peaceful Chuseok," Mayor Lee said. "We will continue to place resident safety and convenience as our highest values and concentrate administrative resources on making Hanam a pleasant and livable city."
