Seongju-gun holds emergency review of heat wave, drought response

Seongju-gun in North Gyeongsang Province held an emergency meeting Friday at the county office's disaster safety operations center to review its response to the ongoing heat wave and drought.

Deputy County Chief Heo Yun-hong presided over the meeting, which was attended by heads of key departments including the safety, family support, agricultural policy, livestock, economy and transportation, construction, rural workforce, public health, agricultural technology and waterworks divisions.

The county has been carrying out a range of heat-wave countermeasures to protect residents, including operating cooling shelters and shade structures, distributing bottled water and hats, installing air conditioners at cooling centers, conducting regular welfare checks on heat-vulnerable residents, adjusting senior employment programs to account for the heat and deploying water-spraying vehicles.

On the drought front, the county is concentrating its administrative resources on minimizing damage through emergency maintenance of water pumps, monitoring reservoir levels, adjusting the water supply from Seongju Lake and establishing emergency water supply systems for areas experiencing outages.

"As the heat wave continues, please make special efforts to strengthen prevention and response activities so that no casualties occur," Heo said. "With rainfall lower than last year compounding drought damage, I urge all departments to take proactive steps to prepare."