[이태원 핼러윈 참사]Seoul without control tower … The police also requested the number of “Seoul City” from the Dasan Call Center.

“I think there must be a security and disaster countermeasures headquarters organized in connection with Yongsan, Seoul (Itaewon disaster), may I know the number?”

At 5:40 am on the 30th of last month, about 7 hours after the Halloween disaster in Itaewon, a police officer from the Seoul Metropolitan Agency asked the Dasan Call Center for the number of the “Seoul Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters” in Seoul. . Police officer Lee asked, “If this phone call doesn’t work, please also provide the contact details of the city watchdog.”

On the 29th, the day of the Halloween disaster in Itaewon, obtained by Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party Legislature’s Office on the 6th, the complaint report to Call Center 120 Dasan contained the conversation between the police officer of the Office of Seoul and the Consultant of the Dasan Call Center. It was confirmed that this police officer visited the Seoul disaster headquarters to provide support to the families of the disaster victims. Even in a situation where it was necessary to quickly provide support to the victims of the disaster, the police had to ask the Call Center Dasan for the telephone number of the person in charge of the city of Seoul.

The Dasan Call Center report on the day of the disaster showed the city’s inadequate response after the disaster. According to the Central Security and Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters and the Fire Department, the time the Seoul Metropolitan Government was informed of the Itaewon disaster was 10:26 pm the same day. Although the first report was received 11 minutes after the disaster, consultants from the Dasan Call Center, an organization under the Seoul metropolitan government, had to repeat that they received no guidance from the city level until dawn the day after. disaster.

It was around 11pm on the day of the disaster when a report on the crushing incident was received at the Dasan Call Center. At 11:43 pm the same day, the reporter said, “Itaewon is in a state of chaos now and I think you should send a disaster message. Please tell me not to enter (Itaewon).” At 01:03 the next day, a call came in saying, “It seems people are still flocking to Itaewon, so why aren’t there any disastrous text messages?” The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it was not. until 11:56 pm on October 29, 101 minutes after the disaster, that ‘In front of the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, traffic is currently under control due to an emergency incident. It is known that it was the first time an emergency text message was sent, saying, “Please bypass the vehicle,” but some Seoul citizens did not seem to receive this message until dawn the next day.

After midnight, the Dasan Call Center was inundated with calls to find out where the family was. At 0:30 on the 30th of last month, “I want to know about the Halloween incident. Following the report of “My daughter is not there (I wonder)”, 00:46 “Daughter cannot be reached”, 00:46 “My sister said she would go to Itaewon, but she could not contact me ”, 1 am 1:31:“ My son said he was going to Itaewon, but he didn’t answer the phone. I want to do location tracking, “the reports followed. The reporters asked for the contact details of the task force responsible for the disaster and the identity of the victims. The employees of the Dasan Call Center just repeated the response:” Sorry, not yet”.

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Citizens mourning the victims at the “Itaewon Halloween Tragedy” memorial space prepared at Exit 1 of Itaewon Station in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, 31. Journalist Lee Joon-heon

After 3 am, there were also complaints asking for a list of the dead. At 3:43 am, the reporter who identified himself as “the parent of the person who had an accident in Itaewon” asked what kind of measures were being taken at the city level, including funeral procedures, saying, “We are now climbing the campaign. ”Even then, there was nothing Dasan Call Center could answer because there was no city-wide prepared alternative.

At 3:43 am, a Seoul city official said, “The list has not yet been received” when a consultant from the Dasan Call Center asked for a list of the dead. Then, when the councilor asked, “Are there any reports of people having been involved in incidents in the future, or have there been related procedures like this?”, A city official replied, “We are still preparing.”

In fact, it appears Seoul didn’t even have a clear-cut disaster control tower right after the disaster. The Dasan call center consultant responded to reporters at 4:37 am and 5:06 am, saying, “There hasn’t been any guidance from us yet.”

Representative Yong Hye-in said: “The city of Seoul spoke as if it responded immediately by setting up the security and disaster countermeasures headquarters immediately after the incident, but looking at the transcript, it was not even possible to decide where to receive. Missing persons reported by 6am the day after the incident. It appears that the disaster coordination system itself has collapsed, with police asking for contact details of Seoul Disaster Response Headquarters at 120 Dasan Call Center after 5 in the morning.