Gwangjin-gu has stepped up efforts to protect residents' lives and health amid a record-breaking heat wave alert that has persisted for days, district mayor Kim Kyung-ho announced.
Throughout August, the district's dong community centers will provide cold water to residents at heightened risk of heat-related illness during the extreme heat.
Ice water stations have been set up at 15 of the district's 97 heat-relief shelters — specifically at the dong community centers most easily accessible to residents. The centers, all designated heat-relief shelters, offer cool resting spaces along with ice water, and any resident worn down by the heat is welcome to use them.
The spaces are particularly expected to serve as practical rest stops for outdoor workers, mobile workers, the elderly and other groups vulnerable to heat, allowing them to take a break, replenish fluids and look after their health.
For homebound elderly residents living alone and welfare recipients who are especially vulnerable to the heat, welfare planners will make direct home visits to deliver bottled ice water while also checking on their health and well-being.
During active heat wave advisories, the district is also promoting heat safety guidelines — urging residents to avoid outdoor activity during midday hours, drink plenty of water and take regular rest breaks — as part of its broader push to prevent heat-related illness.
"A heat wave is a disaster that threatens residents' health and lives, which is why rapid, on-the-ground response is above all else the priority," district mayor Kim said. "We will keep a close eye on conditions in the field and provide support so that residents can get through the summer safely."
Gwangjin-gu is concentrating its administrative resources on protecting residents' health and safety through a range of lifestyle-focused heat countermeasures, including the operation of smart cooling shelters and heat-relief shelters, heat-reduction facilities such as smart shade structures and cooling fog systems, and an expansion of rest facilities for mobile workers.
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