More than 7,000 volunteers participated in this summer's heatwave response

Central Volunteer Center ‘Climate Disaster Response Results Sharing Meeting’

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Hong Jun-seok = It was found that about 7,000 volunteers participated in responding to the heat wave this summer.

On the 13th, the Korea Central Volunteer Center held the 'Climate Disaster Response Integrated Volunteer Support Team Performance Sharing Meeting' at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul and made this announcement.

According to the Central Volunteer Center, 7,029 volunteers from 80 basic volunteer centers across the country cooperated with 197 institutions and organizations to support 97,903 people vulnerable to heat waves.

Volunteers helped a variety of regions and classes, from wildfire and heavy rain damage sites in Uiseong-gun, Gyeongbuk, to traditional market stalls in Sejong City, isolated households in Ongjin-gun, Incheon, elderly families living alone in underdeveloped areas in Danyang-gun, North Chungcheong Province, mobile worker shelters in Gwangju-si, Gwangju-si, Jeollanam-do, and foreign rural workers in Anseong-si, Gyeonggi-do.

Volunteers used local networks to visit neighbors in need of support and identify risk factors such as old air conditioning equipment, social isolation, mobility restrictions, and lack of information due to language problems.

Volunteers' help also reached areas affected by heavy rain.

In Geoje City, Gyeongsangnam-do, where a record heavy rain of over 900 mm fell in three days this summer, 14,928 volunteers from 373 organizations supported damage recovery and recovery of daily life for 51 days from August 17 to the 6th of this month.

Through this performance sharing session, the Central Volunteer Center plans to summarize the experience it has accumulated in the process of responding to heat waves and heavy rains, and based on this, continue its care project for the vulnerable in preparation for winter cold waves and heavy snowfall.

Seok-in Yoon, head of the Central Volunteer Center, said, “We will strengthen cooperation and support so that the field experiences shared at this performance sharing meeting can lead to disaster response capabilities in the local community.”