A Study on the Necessity of Developing a Decision-making System Suitable for Disaster Sites by Type
Jungduk Lee · 2024
The National Assembly has recently been enacting or revising various laws related to social disasters. In the meantime, we have experienced various large-scale disasters and strengthened our ability to respond to disasters, focusing on administrative organizations by preparing legal and policy alternatives. Nevertheless, vulnerabilities to various disasters continue to appear, including the ‘Osong Underpass Disaster’ that occurred in the summer of 2023. In the meantime, when a disaster occurred, the cause was found and additional monitoring and detection equipment was installed. Various facilities were improved to prevent flood damage and landslides. Nevertheless, we do not feel safe now. It is time to really think about what the problem is. While we continue to supplement laws that have been lacking so far, we now need to pay attention to practically important decisions at disaster sites. No matter how much we strengthen our ability to prepare for and respond to disasters, the final judgment must be made by humans. Then you need to decide whether to grant authority and responsibility to someone. There is a high possibility that confusion will continue to arise with the current role responsibility and authority system of administrative organizations. There are clear areas of responsibility and authority depending on the roles and functions of administrative organizations, such as firefighting in fire and lifesaving, and police in crime, but in various complex disaster situations, it is unclear who will have command authority and responsibility. There is a need to establish and operate a disaster scene decision-making system according to the number of victims. Administrative agencies such as local governments, police, and fire departments must go beyond the level of carrying out their respective roles in normal times and communicating with each other when a disaster of a certain scale occurs. There is a need to establish a command system for who will take the lead in disasters of any type and scale. In this paper, we review the research that has been conducted so far on disaster scene decision-making and diagnose the reality and problems of the decision-making system. We also look at ways to improve the disaster scene decision-making system and the need for development.