Improving Korea’s Societal Security by Preparing for Unforeseen Disasters: Focused on the Horizontal Collaboration Approach

Abstract

Recently, unforeseen disasters have occurred, such as the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan and the tragic Sewol ferry incident in Korea. These unforeseen disasters challenged national emergency management capacities in many ways. We are living in a very complex and ever-changing society, and so, improving social security against these disasters is critically important. This paper discusses changes to emergency management to bring contemporary response standards into the aging system. Particular focus is on Korea's emergency management systems and preparing for the unforeseen events in Korea. Finally, this paper suggests the horizontal collaboration approach at the local level, and further suggests three practical ways of horizontal collaboration to promote effective and efficient response against unforeseen disasters in Korea.