Acting president calls for all-out efforts to evacuate residents from wildfire-hit areas
Acting President Han Duck-soo, left, presides over an emergency meeting on the wildfires in the country's southeastern region at Government Complex Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
Acting President Han Duck-soo instructed regional governments Tuesday to make all-out efforts to evacuate residents from wildfire-hit areas in the country's southeast, his office said.
His instruction came as the wildfires that began in the southeastern county of Sancheong on Friday are spreading rapidly to neighboring regions amid strong, dry winds, increasing the risk of human casualties as the flames reached Andong and Cheongsong.
Han called for local governments to "mobilize all available administrative resources to ensure residents in the affected areas can move to safe locations quickly," his office said.
He ordered the relevant authorities, including the Korea Forest Service, the National Fire Agency and the defense ministry, to deploy all equipment and personnel to contain the wildfires as quickly as possible.
Han also called for the "thorough preparation of firefighting personnel and equipment," while prioritizing the safety of the firefighting crews and maintaining control to prevent any safety accidents, his office said.
Hours later, Han visited the main situation room of the central disaster control headquarters at the interior ministry in Seoul to check government responses and details of the damage from the fires so far, his office said. (Yonhap)