A Study on the Current Condition and Development Plan of Disaster Relief in Korea

Major disaster relief in Korea is administered on the basis of the Disaster Relief Act which mainly aims for the relief of victims affected by natural disasters. There is, however, a growing need for the comprehensive relief that can cope with all kinds of disas-ters because the possibility of new and complex disasters always happens amid social, economic, and environmental changes, including low fertility, population aging, multiculturalism, and climate change. At the same time, due to the increasing numbers of elderly people and foreign workers, the establishment of laws and systems protecting the disaster minority has become an urgent task. Futhermore, several problems which relate to disaster relief funds and donations should be resolved. They must be delivered to the disaster victims promptly. And the poor management of the disaster relief supply which is focused on disaster relief kits only and the problem of the temporary housing facility should also be improved. Lastly, the short duration of disaster relief edu-cation and training, the neglect of cultivating disaster relief professionals and R&D, and the limitation of disaster relief man-agement regarding to volunteering activities are pointed out. In this study, the development plan for relief activities were discussed by investigating and analyzing the problems involved in raws and legal system, relief resources and supplies, relief systems cur