Interior ministry launches task force on temporary housing safety

The interior ministry said Monday it launched a task force to improve the system governing temporary prefabricated homes after heavy rain exposed safety problems.

Intense rainfall on July 18 and 19 flooded temporary homes for wildfire evacuees in North Gyeongsang Province. Units at Gwi-ri in Iljik-myeon, Andong, and Gugae-ri in Danchon-myeon, Uiseong, were flooded, and some became detached from their foundations.

The task force will include private-sector specialists and local government officials and be headed by the director general of the ministry's disaster recovery support bureau. It will review safeguards from site selection and design through management and move-out, including standard designs, stronger site safety and preparations for future disasters.

The review will also address residents who stay in the homes for more than two years and consider changes to the homes' definition and name. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will incorporate the measures into its operating guidelines for temporary prefabricated homes.

Safety-related measures will be prioritized in a first revision by the end of this year. The ministry will prepare a broader draft covering the remaining issues and pursue a second revision early next year.

"We will establish thorough institutional safeguards with experts so that disaster victims who have lost their homes do not suffer a second hardship from another disaster," Kim Jung-yeol, director general of disaster recovery support, said. "We will fundamentally improve the safety management system from initial support through move-out."