How will residents be evacuated and recovery handled after a chemical accident? ... Tabletop exercise by the National Institute of Chemical Safety and Cheonan City

[Financial News] A training exercise will be held in Cheonan based on a complex disaster scenario in which vapor leaks from a chemical storage tank, a fire breaks out and triggers an explosion, and water used to put out the fire flows into a river, causing water pollution. The exercise focuses not just on responding at the scene but also on evacuating residents and managing the aftermath and recovery.
The National Institute of Chemical Safety, under the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, announced on the 13th that it will hold a tabletop exercise on chemical accident response with Cheonan City at Cheonan City Hall on the afternoon of the 14th. A tabletop exercise uses a situation board and scenarios, rather than actual equipment, to review each agency’s duties.
About 50 people from nine agencies, including the Geum River Basin Environmental Office and South Chungcheong Province, will take part in the exercise. About 50 members of Cheonan City’s local consultative body, made up of business and resident representatives, will observe.
The exercise scenario involves an abnormal reaction in a storage tank for styrene monomer residue oil at a business site, causing chemicals to leak and leading to a fire and explosion. It also assumes that runoff from water used to extinguish the fire would flow out and escalate into a secondary water pollution incident.
Participants will carry out duties at each stage, from the onset of the accident through recovery. These include relaying information about the accident, taking initial response measures, sending emergency alerts, evacuating residents and operating shelters, preventing firefighting water from entering rivers, handling waste, and supporting victims. They will also check whether the Regional Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and the Disaster Site Integrated Support Headquarters function as intended.
The National Institute of Chemical Safety plans to incorporate the results of the exercise into a “Standard Training Scenario for Chemical Accidents Focused on Resident Evacuation and Response and Recovery” and distribute it to local governments nationwide.
“Multiple agencies need to work in coordination, from on-site response to resident evacuation and post-accident response and recovery,” said Park Bong-gyun, head of the National Institute of Chemical Safety. “We will continue to strengthen the chemical safety response system together with local residents and businesses.”
[email protected] Lee Yu-beom Reporter