(3rd LD) Yoon orders all-out efforts to deal with aftermath of downpours, including disaster zone designation

▲ President Yoon Suk Yeol (3rd from L) looks around a battered site in the southeastern county of Yecheon, 165 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on July 17, 2023, where a landslide left two missing and destroyed 30 homes. (Yonhap)

▲ President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a disaster response meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters at the government complex in Seoul on July 17, 2023, to deal with torrential rains hitting the country and minimize possible damage. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

(3rd LD) Yoon-downpours

(3rd LD) Yoon orders all-out efforts to deal with aftermath of downpours, including disaster zone designation

(ATTN: ADDS additional info of Yoon's visit to Yecheon County in last 4 paras)

By Kang Jae-eun

SEOUL, July 17 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday ordered the mobilization of all available resources and policy measures, including designating special disaster zones, to deal with the aftermath of heavy downpours that have left at least 40 people dead and nine others missing.

Yoon made the remarks while presiding over a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, just hours after returning home from a weeklong trip to Europe that included visits to Lithuania and Poland and an unannounced stop in Ukraine.

"There is no way to suppress my sadness. I pray for the souls of those killed in the heavy rains and offer words of comfort to the bereaved families," Yoon said during the meeting. "We all need to take the situation gravely and mobilize all available resources."

In particular, Yoon called for dedicated efforts on the ground to ensure swift rescue operations. All policy measures should be mobilized for recovery efforts, Yoon said, including designating hard-hit areas as special disaster zones eligible for state support.

Yoon called for extra precaution, saying more downpours are forecast for Tuesday.

Yoon said that a lack of proper management for flood-prone areas caused many casualties, and emphasized preemptive responses, such as evacuating residents in vulnerable areas, is important in preventing damage.

"Extreme weather events like this will always be around us," he said. "We need to tear down perceptions that we can't help it because this is an unusual situation. We need to deal with the situation with extraordinary determination."

Yoon added that he was briefed on the downpour situation while he was on the trip to Europe and said he instructed officials to take response measures via a video call during his stay in Ukraine and Poland.

Monday's disaster response meeting was also attended by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, head of the Office of Government Policy Coordination Bang Mon-kyu and ministers from relevant ministries, as well as heads of 17 regional offices.

After the meeting, Yoon headed to the southeastern county of Yecheon, 165 kilometers southeast of Seoul, where 19 people died and eight remained missing after landslides and housing collapses. He looked around the site and was briefed on the damage situation, his office said.

He looked around the site in Gamcheon, a small town with 83 households, where 30 homes were swept away or collapsed due to the landslide, and two people went missing.

Yoon also visited a senior welfare center used as a temporary shelter and met around 20 people in their 80s and 90s.

"When I heard about the landslide while overseas, I thought the mountains behind the homes must have crumbled and crashed into the private houses," he said. "I've never seen (a landslide) cause a few hundred tons of rocks to roll down a mountain like this."

He also promised to take all necessary measures to restore the town.

(END)

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