The government is pushing for amendments to laws, including strengthening standards to withstand the weight of snow in the design and construction processes of buildings by the first half of next year. This is in response to an unprecedented heavy snowfall resulting from climate anomalies, which recorded the highest daily snowfall since weather observations began in November of last year.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 16th that it has prepared measures to improve the response system for heavy snowfall and strong winds due to climate anomalies in collaboration with relevant ministries.
This improvement plan aims to strengthen relevant response capabilities in light of the exceptionally large amount of snow that fell in November of last year. The snowfall at that time caused total damage of 450.9 billion won, including 444.9 billion won in private facilities and 6 billion won in public facilities.
Additionally, 11 regions across the country have been designated as special disaster areas due to heavy snowfall. In these areas, there have been incidents of collapse of building structures unable to withstand the sudden heavy snow. Structures such as factory buildings and the roofs of parking lot access ways in apartment complexes were unable to bear the weight of the accumulated snow.
While the massive accumulation of up to 47.5 cm of snow was problematic, the situation was made worse by "wet snow" holding a large amount of moisture due to higher temperatures. Oh Byung-kwon, head of the Natural Disaster Division at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, noted, "The regions heavily affected by heavy snowfall had not only a significant amount of snow but also received snow in the form of wet snow." Wet snow refers to what is commonly known as "heavy snow."
The Korea Meteorological Administration categorizes snow based on the snow-water equivalent ratio (SRR), which refers to the amount of snowfall relative to precipitation. For example, if 1 mm of precipitation results in 1 cm of snow, the snow-water equivalent ratio would be 10. Thus, if the snow-water equivalent ratio is less than 10, it is classified as wet snow; between 10 and 20 is categorized as normal snow; and greater than 20 is classified as dry snow.
Accordingly, the government reports that a large amount of snow in the form of wet snow may continue to fall, prompting amendments to laws related to buildings. Since incidents of building collapses have occurred exceeding the established design standards for disaster response per region, they plan to reinforce these standards. A spokesperson from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated, "The current standards are based on data from 2015, but we will set them by considering regional data from the last 10 years," adding, "We plan to revise them around the first half of next year."
Management of facilities that do not meet the appropriate design standards will also be strengthened. For aging livestock facilities and greenhouses, reinforcements such as H-beams and portable support columns will be installed to ensure structural safety. Furthermore, annexed facilities like market arcades will have standardized installations for columns and roofing.
In addition, disaster alerts for heavy snowfall will be sent out, and the permitting process for new construction and renovations of facilities damaged by heavy snowfall will be streamlined for quick recovery.
Lee Han-kyung, head of the Disaster and Safety Management Headquarters, said, “To protect the lives and property of the people from the reality of the climate crisis, we will closely monitor the implementation of the government measures prepared this time on the ground.”