Earthquake Safety Week begins on the 19th; 11,906 evacuation sites nationwide to be inspected

[Financial News]  The government will observe Earthquake Safety Week nationwide for one week starting on the 19th. It will hold hands-on educational programs to improve the public’s ability to respond to earthquakes and joint drills with relevant agencies, and conduct nationwide inspections of 11,906 earthquake and tsunami evacuation sites and 868 seismic acceleration measuring instruments.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said on the 18th that it will hold “2026 Earthquake Safety Week” from the 19th through the 25th, with central government agencies, local governments and public institutions taking part. The aim is to inform the public about how to respond appropriately when an earthquake or tsunami occurs and to strengthen the on-site response capabilities of relevant agencies.
This Earthquake Safety Week will feature hands-on safety education in which members of the public can participate directly, along with tsunami-response drills. Earthquake safety information booths will also be set up at four locations in three cities, including Seoul, Busan and Daejeon.
The information booths will operate on the 19th at Gangnam Square Plaza in Seoul, on the 21st at Daejeon Complex Terminal, on the 23rd at Mangwon Hangang Park in Seoul, and on the 25th at the Culture Sharing Space at Pusan National University Station in Busan. Visitors can learn what to do in the event of an earthquake, tsunami or volcanic ashfall, and learn evacuation procedures for different situations through interactive videos and true-or-false quizzes. Winning entries from the “Earthquake Safety AI Video Contest” will also be displayed.
Online events will also run throughout this month on the Earthquake Safety website. Events will include finding nearby evacuation sites, verifying visits to those sites, and reporting through Safety e-Report, helping people check evacuation locations near their homes in advance. Public information campaigns on response procedures will also use TV, social networking services (SNS), cinema screens, convenience-store checkout counters and outdoor electronic billboards.
Drills will also be held to assess the earthquake response systems of relevant agencies. On the upcoming 21st, a joint tsunami-preparedness drill will involve the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Korea Meteorological Administration, relevant central government ministries and local governments in coastal areas. The drill will review how information is communicated at each stage of a tsunami and the procedures for evacuating residents and vessels, and assess the safety management systems of key infrastructure, including nuclear power plants and transportation, electricity and port facilities. Local governments in coastal areas that are not directly taking part in the drill will also observe.
On the 20th, training on earthquake and tsunami preparedness and response systems will be provided for local government officials. Participants will share updates to guidelines on evacuation sites and approaches to managing seismic acceleration measuring instruments, and gather suggestions from the field.
Earthquake safety education for children has also been arranged. On the 20th, Habin Elementary School in Daegu will hold theoretical and hands-on earthquake education and an evacuation drill. On the 22nd, Bondong Elementary School in Seoul will hold an outreach earthquake safety drill based on public emergency response guidelines.
Safety inspections of evacuation sites and earthquake monitoring equipment are also underway nationwide. Since the 1st of this month, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has been conducting inspections of 11,254 outdoor earthquake evacuation sites nationwide and 652 tsunami emergency evacuation sites along the East Sea coast.
Inspectors are checking whether evacuation sites are appropriately located, whether access routes are clear and whether guidance signs have been damaged. They are also checking whether the addresses shown on online maps match the actual locations.
Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung said, “Preparing for earthquakes requires not only government efforts but, above all, the attention and action of everyone in the public,” and urged people to “use this Earthquake Safety Week as an opportunity to review earthquake response procedures once again and check the evacuation sites near your home as well.”

[email protected] Bomi Lee Reporter