Siheung in Gyeonggido Province has adopted a multifaceted, data-based analysis to develop a responsive system tailored to the area’s increasing challenges with torrential rainfall, attributed to recent climate change.

This project stems from the realization that rapid heavy rainfall can lead to swift flood damage, underscoring the necessity for more prompt and precise disaster response standards.

Against this backdrop, the analysis focuses on identifying the timing and the locations prone to flooding due to torrential rainfall. The goal is to enable more effective real-time responses to disasters and enhance in-advance preparation.

To achieve this, Siheung not only have considered precipitation but also have quantified topographical environment of affected areas and the vulnerability of underground pipelines. This comprehensive approach led to the creation of a data-based analysis model.

Utilizing various analysis programs such as R / Q-GIS and Tableau, the analysis model tracked common causes for flooding damage in heavily impacted areas through visualized information.

The analysis revealed that 80% of the impacted households in Siheung over the past six years are located in the Daeyadong and Sincheondong area. The main contributing factors were the geographical characteristics linked to slopes and the concentrated load on the storm water pipelines at the stream’s outlets.

Furthermore, an analysis conducted over 50,000 hours during rainfall periods indicated that flooding tends to occur when precipitation reaches 22 mm per hour in vulnerable areas.

Based on these findings, Siheung incorporated vulnerable flooding spots and the corresponding hours into its responsive timing and targeted locations for disaster response. Flood prevention equipment was strategically deployed near these vulnerable spots, resulting in a 90% decrease in flooding damage compared to 2022.

This successful case of proactive research and policy implementation by Siheung has inspired other local governments. The city plans to register its analysis model as a standard for the big data analysis system of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to expand its impact.

Siheung intends to apply the urban insights collected through the data analysis process to fields beyond disaster response, leveraging them for overall city management.

The city is also collaborating with the Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corporation to build a 3D digital twin platform, not just for disaster response simulation, but as a data map combined with various administrative information.

A source from the Siheung City Government emphasized that the city government will continue to develop and utilize data-based administration to respond to various issues. As data analysis provides objective findings for the causes or background of current issues, the city plans to actively utilize the data analysis and make it available to the public for effective utilization.

[Source] Siheung City, Winner of the Local Government Policy Research Contest
Contact: Seo JeongHyun (tyals2@korea.kr)

[Appendix] Analysis Data