Cheonan City conducted a joint tabletop exercise with related organizations to strengthen its rapid resident evacuation and disaster recovery capabilities in the event of a chemical accident.

On the 14th, Cheonan City held a "Chemical Accident Response Tabletop Exercise" and a joint meeting of the "Chemical Substance Regional Consultative Body" in cooperation with the Chemical Safety Institute at the city hall assembly room.

This training was designed to inspect actual situation-based response systems by simulating a leak, fire, and explosion accident caused by runaway polymerization reactions of chemical substances, which have been occurring frequently of late.

The drill was attended by about 100 people, including officials from 13 departments of Cheonan City, 9 related organizations such as the fire department, the Geumgang Basin Environmental Office, and South Chungcheong Province, as well as members of the Chemical Substance Regional Consultative Body consisting of administration, businesses, and residents.

The exercise was conducted in a step-by-step review format, covering the entire process of recovery and restoration—from rapid initial response, situation propagation, and emergency disaster text message transmission, to the operation of the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, operation of evacuation shelters, leak blocking and decontamination, waste disposal, and victim support.

In particular, the exercise stood out by moving beyond conventional drills focused only on initial suppression and early response, systematically verifying the specific roles of local government and measures for each department from the occurrence of the accident to final recovery.

Reflecting the results of this exercise, the Chemical Safety Institute plans to produce and distribute a "Standard Training Scenario for Chemical Accidents Centered on Resident Evacuation and Recovery" to local governments nationwide.

Kim Seok-pil, Vice Mayor of Cheonan, stated, "Chemical accidents can lead to large-scale compound damage with just a momentary lapse in concentration. Therefore, organic cooperation between related organizations and the local community to minimize damage is of the utmost importance." He added, "We will further solidify the public-private cooperative system to build Cheonan into a safe city where citizens can feel secure."

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