ed No more disasters

Safety must be first, not by words but by deeds

Rescuers stepped up their desperate search for hundreds of people ― mostly high school students ― believed to still be trapped in the sunken ferry Sewol Friday. Some divers reportedly labored to enter the hull, fueling hopes for the distressed families. But the ship disappeared underwater, lowering people’s hopes that any survivors will be found.

With a mix of hope and despair, the ferry sinking has revealed how messy our safety system is. Korea has grown to be the world’s 15th-largest economy by developing hard power in a short span of time, but its soft power has certainly failed to catch up.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Korea was a total failure as far as safety is concerned, given its responses before and after the biggest marine calamity in more than two decades.

The prosecution shocked the nation Friday by announcing that it was the third officer, not the captain, who was in command of steering the ship when the accident took place. The exact location of the captain, who has become an object of public anger for escaping the ferry while hundreds of others were trapped, was not immediately known.

That only two of Sewol’s 42 inflatable lifeboats were used is serious enough to raise corruption suspicions with regard to authorities’ safety inspections. But the ship passed the regular state inspection in February. So it may be too natural that passengers didn’t receive any safety lecture before the ferry left Incheon, west of Seoul.

Responses by the crew and the government after the ship capsized also left much to be desired.

The ship’s captain and 20 of his 29 crew members abandoned the sinking ferry early, blowing away a golden opportunity to save the passengers.

What if the operator of the ferry had conducted emergency drills once every 10 days as required by the relevant regulations? Probably much less people would have been trapped if the crew had acted more calmly and responsibly. But the crew ran about in confusion because there had hardly been any drills.

It is also sad that the Navy and the Coast Guard stopped trying to rescue people ― possibly out of misjudgment ― when the ship was still largely above water.

We as a nation must do all that we can to prevent a recurrence of this kind of manmade disaster. What’s needed first is to dismantle the widespread ignorance of safety entrenched in our society.

To prevent calamities, it’s necessary to enforce feasible safety rules, and those who violate them should be strictly held accountable. Detailed safety manuals must be prepared for all kinds of emergencies and people should be accustomed to them through intensive training so that there is no confusion in emergencies.

It’s no longer tenable to prevent disasters through empty slogans or momentary interest. The ferry sinking should be our last big calamity.