Record heat wave grips Busan, South Gyeongsang as cities scramble for relief

As a series of extreme heat wave alerts has been issued across Busan and South Gyeongsang Province, both the city and provincial governments are working to put emergency measures in place.

Busan said Monday it would inject 100 million won ($69,800) from its disaster relief fund to protect the health and safety of vulnerable residents. The measure aims to quickly provide cooling costs and heat-prevention supplies to social welfare facilities housing the elderly, people with disabilities and the homeless — groups most at risk from extreme heat — to prevent heat-related illness and help residents safely get through the summer.

The city has already deployed lifestyle support workers, disability activity assistants and homeless field response teams to check on the safety and health of vulnerable residents by phone and in person during heat wave alerts, while also distributing heat safety guidelines and handling emergencies. The additional disaster relief funds will extend operating hours at cooling centers in social welfare facilities and supply heat-protection goods, further strengthening the city's preparedness for a prolonged heat wave.

The funds will be disbursed through the Busan Community Chest of Korea and directed toward: cooling costs for 225 senior centers, along with cooling costs and heat-prevention supplies — including electric fans, cooling products and bottled water — for community welfare centers; cooling costs and heat illness prevention supplies for homeless support centers; and cooling supplies for disability welfare centers.

South Gyeongsang Province activated Level 2 of its disaster safety response headquarters and tightened its emergency response system as severe heat continued across the province.

At an afternoon briefing on heat wave and drought conditions Monday, provincial officials said the daytime high in Yangsan reached 42.5 degrees Celsius on Sunday, with scorching heat gripping the entire province. They added that 13 more heat illness cases were reported Sunday, bringing the cumulative total to 174, including three deaths.

The province increased emergency staffing centered on its natural disaster division and coordinated responses with welfare, agriculture and other relevant departments as well as 18 cities and counties. It stepped up welfare check calls for vulnerable residents such as elderly people living alone and strengthened field monitoring of agricultural sites, while also increasing the frequency of village and street broadcasts in rural areas.

The province is processing payments of 100,000 won per site in cooling costs for 8,837 heat shelters across the region, drawing on 50 million won in disaster relief project funds secured from the Ministry of Interior and Safety as well as the province's own disaster relief fund. Operating hours for the shelters have been extended from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. to make them more accessible to residents. The province is also injecting 500 million won from its disaster management fund to address drinking water shortages and agricultural water needs.

"We will concentrate all administrative resources on activating a field-centered emergency response system to minimize casualties and property damage," a South Gyeongsang Province official said.