Seoul mayor orders emergency heat response as city-wide heat advisory takes effect

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon issued an emergency directive Tuesday morning, ordering city departments to immediately activate heat-reduction facilities and do everything possible to protect lives. As of Monday, Seoul had recorded 68 cumulative heat-related illness cases and one death this season.

Oh urged officials to step up heat illness prevention guidance for vulnerable groups — including elderly people living alone, residents of low-cost lodging houses and the homeless — as well as outdoor workers such as construction laborers and delivery workers. He also called on departments to actively inform the public about heat safety measures, including drinking enough water.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government activated its comprehensive heat wave support operations center after a heat advisory took effect across the entire city Monday at 11 a.m., coordinating with all 25 autonomous districts and relevant agencies to strengthen public protection and safety management at vulnerable facilities. A heat advisory is issued when the daily maximum apparent temperature is forecast to reach 33 degrees Celsius or higher for two or more consecutive days. This is the second heat advisory issued for Seoul this summer — the first came on June 18 — and the first to cover the entire city this year. With the city-wide advisory in effect, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has activated a Level 1 duty order.

The comprehensive heat wave support operations center is organized into units covering overall situation management, lifestyle support, energy recovery and medical and quarantine response. It continuously monitors weather conditions, damage reports, and the protection status of vulnerable people and facilities, and coordinates all response activities.

The city has also fully activated its heat-reduction infrastructure to ease the urban heat island effect. Cooling fog systems — which spray a fine water mist to lower ambient temperatures — are operating at high-traffic locations including plazas, parks and pedestrian walkways, while road-mounted water-spraying systems are being expanded across the city.

Road washing has also been intensified to bring down street-level heat. The city has deployed 199 water-cleaning vehicles on major arterial and general roads, carrying out up to five to eight washes per day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., the peak heat hours.

To give residents a place to escape the heat, the city is operating cooling shelters and shade structures at locations close to daily life. Cooling shelter hours have been extended, and shade canopies have been installed at busy crosswalks and traffic islands.

Outreach to vulnerable residents is also being strengthened. City workers will call elderly people who need care every other day to check on their well-being, and will make in-person visits if they cannot be reached by phone.

On-the-ground protection for residents of low-cost lodging houses and homeless people sleeping on the streets has been reinforced as well. Additional personnel have been deployed to areas with high concentrations of homeless individuals, with increased counseling and patrol activity to ensure a rapid response if heat-related emergencies arise.

The city plans to use electronic billboards, its official website and emergency text alerts to actively guide residents on how to protect themselves during the heat wave.