□ Overview
○ Incheon metropolitan city participated in the “Making Cities Resilient Campaign,” a UN-led campaign aimed at improving the capacity of cities all over the world to mitigate risk factors stemming from natural and man-made disasters. As part of the Campaign, UN nominates “role model” cities utilizing innovative and effective risk mitigation and restoration measures.
○ As the first Korean city to join the Making Cities Resilient Campaign, Incheon was able to become a role model due in large part to the fact that the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) was designed from the ground-up as a Smart City with networks and systems capable of boosting its resilience against disasters. IFEZ was built on reclaimed mudflats off the western coast of Korea. According to its master plan, it was to become a city that could be “highly resistant against climate change and disasters.” Also, Incheon was recognized as the first role model city in Korea for its contributions to international cooperation in the field of disaster risk mitigation as a UNDRR partner city.
□ Timeline
○ 2013: Joined the “UN Making Cities Resilient Campaign” and began membership activities
○ 2018: Used an urban disaster risk mitigation assessment tool developed by UN to assess Incheon’s disaster readiness
○ 2019: Participated in the UN Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, and made an official statement at the conference
Applied for the UN role model city title, and became the first city in Korea to take part
in an inter-city disaster risk mitigation exchange project recommended by the UN (delegation of senior public officials from Kampala city (capital of Uganda) visited Incheon)
□ Roll Model City certification conferment ceremony
○ Time and Date: 11:00 on February 4, 2020 (Mayor’s Office)
○ Presenter: Sanjaya Bhatia - Head of Office of United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Office for Northeast Asia (ONEA), Head of Global Education and Training Institute (GETI) for Disaster Risk Reduction
- Certification Body: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (Special Representative of the Secretary-General Mami Mizutori)
□ Upcoming Plans
○ Lecture on “Disaster Risk Reduction and the UN Sendai Framework” at the Incheon Public Officials Academy (Head of Office, UNDRR Office for Northeast Asia)
○ Established a team to fulfill the role model city responsibilities
