[On-Site Video] A Collapsed Road, a Burning EV ... Compound Disaster Response Drill

[Financial News]   The road gives way, and a vehicle is buried underground.

At the site of a construction-site structure collapse, search operations continue to locate survivors, while flames shoot up from an electric bus after its battery goes into thermal runaway.
A response drill simulating a series of disasters was held in Mokdong, Seoul.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government conducted the 2026 Safe Korea Disaster Response Exercise on the 22nd at Mokdong Sports Complex in Yangcheon District, with Mayor Oh Se-hoon in attendance.
The drill simulated a compound disaster in which ground subsidence was followed by a structural collapse, an electric-vehicle fire and other incidents, and assessed the on-site response capabilities and coordination system of the agencies involved.
Around 700 people from 21 organizations and groups took part in the drill, including the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Yangcheon District, as well as fire services, police, the military and Korea Electric Power Corporation.
At the site, responders recreated a scenario in which a vehicle was buried when the road collapsed.

Rescue teams checked procedures for surveying ground conditions with ground-penetrating radar and rescuing vehicle occupants using lifting equipment.
Around the collapsed temporary structures at the construction site, teams continued drills to locate survivors in the rubble using rescue dogs, search drones, quadruped robots, radio-wave detectors and other equipment.


Response to electric-vehicle fires was also a major focus of the inspection. A drill based on the electric-bus fire at the Eunpyeong depot simulated a fire spreading as a result of battery thermal runaway.

Teams reviewed electric-vehicle fire response procedures, including containing the spread of flames with a fire-suppression blanket and cooling the battery in a mobile firefighting tank.
An emergency medical drill that took language barriers into account was also held.
The drill simulated an incident with multiple foreign casualties and reviewed the process of assessing patients’ conditions and providing emergency medical care.

The exercise was based on actual disasters that have occurred in Seoul.
Rather than focusing solely on responses to individual incidents, the exercise aimed to review the full process of responding to a compound disaster, from communicating the situation and on-site command to rescue operations, emergency medical care and the restoration of urban infrastructure.



After presiding over a situation assessment meeting at the site, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited five training zones in turn to inspect the response at each agency and how advanced rescue equipment was being used. Photo/Video: Seo Dong-il



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