Three townships in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province — Iljik-myeon, Namseon-myeon and Imha-myeon — have been designated special disaster zones following heavy rainfall damage.
Andong city announced Sunday that damages from torrential rains that struck from July 8 to 24 totaled 3.94 billion won ($2.78 million), meeting the threshold for a special disaster zone declaration.
A joint central damage assessment team organized by the Ministry of Interior and Safety set up an investigation headquarters at Andong City Hall from Aug. 1 through Wednesday to conduct on-site inspections and calculate the damage figures required for the designation.
The city's total damage exceeded the 3.3 billion won national subsidy threshold required for a special disaster zone declaration, and individual township damage figures also met the criteria.
Iljik-myeon, Namseon-myeon and Imha-myeon each recorded damages of at least 825 million won, clearing the per-township threshold for the designation.
With the special disaster zone status, Andong will receive additional central government funding to cover a portion of the local government's share of facility restoration costs.
Affected residents will also benefit from a range of support measures, including deferrals on national and local tax payments and reductions on public utility fees.
"We will concentrate all administrative resources on swiftly and systematically restoring damaged facilities using the additional national funding, so that residents can return to their daily lives as soon as possible," Andong Mayor Kwon Ki-chang said.
kbj7653@heraldcorp.com
