South Korea plans 50 AI projects for disaster preparation
South Korea’s interior ministry announced 50 disaster and safety AI projects with about 940 billion won in planned investment through 2030. The work would connect scattered safety data and test decision support for heavy rain and typhoons in three local governments. The pilot’s effect on emergency decisions has yet to be evaluated.
Artificial Intelligence··Midday
Fifty projects through 2030
South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on September 27 a government-wide plan to bring AI into disaster and safety management. Newsis independently reported the announcement. The ministry envisages 50 projects and about 940 billion won of investment through 2030. The amount is planned spending rather than money already disbursed. Newsis says an earlier recommendation from the national AI strategy committee preceded the plan. Officials want to identify risks sooner instead of centering the system only on response after disasters occur. The plan covers data preparation, sharing between agencies and local decision support as separate tasks. Its investment schedule through 2030 describes work to be done, rather than an AI system already in routine operation.[1], [2]
Documents become linked safety data
The ministry and the National Information Society Agency plan to turn daily safety reports and situation messages, largely stored as documents, into structured data. They also intend to connect satellite information with maps of landslide-prone and other vulnerable places. During heavy rain, a proposed service would combine flood and damage records, weather observations, river levels and fire-agency emergency calls. Public agencies and companies would receive clearer procedures for requesting the disaster data needed to build services. Future government website redesigns are also meant to make information easier for AI systems to read. These data are now dispersed among agencies. The proposed links would let officials examine damage locations, changing river levels and incoming emergency calls in one event-based view. Satellite data would also be considered alongside maps of vulnerable areas.[1], [2]
Three locations will test decision support
Busan, Yeongcheon in North Gyeongsang and Inje in Gangwon were chosen for a heavy-rain and typhoon pilot. The proposed system would examine current weather, underground and low-lying hazards, and past damage, then suggest evacuation or access restrictions to local officials. The ministry aims to evaluate the decision-support service by early next year. The pilots will test whether the planned data integration helps staff act during dangerous weather; the announcement itself provides no measured improvement in warning accuracy, evacuation decisions or disaster outcomes. The three local governments are pilot sites, and the ministry plans to assess the service with them. Its recommendations would go to officials making evacuation and access decisions. That assessment has not yet yielded results.[1], [2]
