Mud and debris from a landslide fill the interior of an apartment building in Okpo-dong, Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, on Monday morning, damaging furniture and fixtures inside. [Yonhap]
Mud and debris from a landslide fill the interior of an apartment building in Okpo-dong, Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, on Monday morning, damaging furniture and fixtures inside. [Yonhap]

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters finalized July flood damage at 30.9 billion won ($21.8 million) after a review Tuesday and announced Wednesday that a total of 71.3 billion won would be committed to recovery efforts.

Heavy rain battered 89 cities, counties and districts across 13 provinces and metropolitan cities nationwide from July 8 to July 24, as a stationary front oscillated north and south between a cold pressure trough from the north and the North Pacific high-pressure system to the south.

Among private property, the storms destroyed two homes outright and partially damaged three others, flooded 376 households, and affected 900 hectares of agricultural and forestry crops, 32 hectares of farmland and 231 small businesses. Public infrastructure damage included 71 river sites, 208 small waterways, 33 roads, five water supply facilities, 48 irrigation structures, 203 small-scale facilities and 46 landslide sites.

Of the 71.3 billion won in total recovery funds, 6.4 billion won will go toward disaster relief payments for private property damage and 64.9 billion won toward restoring public infrastructure.

Disaster relief payments for affected residents will cover 3.5 million won per flooded household, 3 million won per small business for management stabilization support, and recovery costs for agricultural and forestry crops and facilities calculated according to the extent of damage.

Areas that fell short of the threshold for central government support due to relatively limited damage will also receive relief payments under the same criteria.

Affected residents will also benefit from a range of indirect support measures.

General disaster zones will be eligible for 25 types of assistance, including national tax payment deferrals, local tax deadline extensions, national pension payment exemptions, disaster recovery loans, emergency business stabilization loans and water and sewage fee reductions.

Four townships — Iljik-myeon, Namseon-myeon and Imha-myeon in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, and Danchon-myeon in Uiseong-gun — designated special disaster zones on Aug. 7, will receive 13 additional types of support, including national health insurance premium reductions, electricity and telecommunications fee waivers and city gas fee reductions.

Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung said the government would "swiftly disburse national subsidies in line with the finalized recovery plan and work with local governments to quickly deliver disaster relief payments to affected residents." He added that the government planned to "mobilize its full administrative capacity to rapidly conduct damage assessments and provide recovery funds so that areas hit by the heavy rains centered on South Gyeongsang Province since Saturday can return to normal life as soon as possible."


thlee@heraldcorp.com