President Lee Myung-bak instructed local governments Tuesday to keep their guard high against Typhoon Bolaven and take every possible step to minimize damage as the powerful storm battered Korea.
Lee made the remark during a video conference with officials from the state weather agency and local governments overseeing regions in the typhoon's course at the underground crisis situation room at the presidential office, his spokesman Park Jeong-ha said.
Lee told officials to make sure that there won't be human casualties by evacuating those living in areas prone to flooding and landslides, and to try to minimize damage to crops and other agricultural products ahead of the harvest season, the spokesman said.
Gyeonggi Province Gov. Kim Moon-soo was among the local government officials attending the conference.
"As the typhoon's radius is large, there could be damage occurring even after its center passes. We should not let our guard down until after it completely moves away," Lee said during the conference, according to the spokesman.
Later in the day, Lee visited the state weather agency, the Korea Meteorological Administration, and asked officials to keep a close watch over another typhoon moving northward from waters south of Taiwan.
"Weather forecasting has become very important because of global climate change. It is closely related not only to everyday lives, but also economic environment," Lee said during the visit. "Please make sure to prepare well against the ensuing typhoon."
According to the state disaster management agency, the typhoon caused the deaths of at least three people, injured another and left nearly 200,000 homes without power across South Korea, in addition to causing other property damage. (Yonhap)