Emergency rescue drill for G-20 Seoul summit

By Shim Hyun-chul

Staff reporter

It's just past 10 a.m. on Monday at a hotel in Seoul. An unidentified terrorist has installed explosives and sprayed chemicals inside the building and goes on to make a scene by threatening a hostage.

Upon receiving a phone call from an onlooker, soldiers and police officers arrive in no time to seize the culprit.

This is where the Special Rescue Unit and come into the picture. Members of the unit help civilians to safety while the military chemical unit cleans up the chemical mess using specialized equipment. As fire begins to spread inside the hotel, dozens of fire trucks on standby hose it down. Meanwhile the Special Rescue Unit saves hotel guests who were unable to escape beforehand. The training comes to an end as each unit tends to the aftermath of the disaster.

This coming November the G-20 summit will be held in Korea, calling for more preparation than ever for ensuring safety and responding to emergency situations. The Monday session was held under the auspices of the Seoul Jungbu Fire Station to counter disasters that could happen in a large hotel.

The session covers each step of a potential crisis from reporting the situation to dividing responsibility among different units. It involved some 510 people from the Seoul Jungbu Fire Station, Namdaemun Police Station, Korean Red Cross and military units and some 40 fire trucks.

``Through the training sessions we will revamp cooperation among the various teams in order to swiftly react to disasters and ensure the safety of our citizens,'' said Seoul Jungbu Fire Station.