KJC Korea
Journal Central

The recent disaster events in South Korea, such as Busan and Gokseong, generated large damage despite disaster warning. This study aimed to determine the configuration factors of disaster warning which influence disaster prevention behavior. Eight factors were empirically derived as core components of disaster warning, such as professionalism, consistency, timeliness, usefulness, accuracy, accessibility, continuity and diversity. The statistical model was developed for controllability as the dependent variable and risk perception as a mediating parameter, using the survey data from 331 respondents who received a warning message within the past year. The findings are as follows: First, consistency, accessibility and continuity were found as a statistically significant factor influencing controllability. Second, professionalism and accuracy influenced only on risk perception but not on controllability. Third, timeliness, usefulness and diversity failed to affect controllability or risk perception. Fourth, it is found that both risk perception and controllability influenced disaster prevention behavior. The findings of this study would contribute to effective design of disaster warning systems.

This study aims to explore the required competencies of emergency preparedness officials in government when performing non-military duties for emergency preparedness, based on the perception of retired military officers selected by the Korean Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Through the behavioral event interview (BEI) with high-performing government officials working on emergency preparedness, the list of competencies for non-military duties was developed and compared with those required for professional soldiers’ military duties for emergency preparedness. With the competencies included in the military selection test by the Korean Institute for Defense Analyses as a control group, the difference in competencies was tested between the two professions. Among a total of 27 competencies, it is found that 5 common competencies (including self-image management) and 2 job competencies (including utilization of supreme leadership and PR ability) are the unique competencies among government officials for emergency preparedness.

Impact forecasting has been applied to estimate flood damage in many different countries based on accurate weather forecasts. This study develops a model forecasting the impact of rainfall on riverside flood risks in the Busan Metropolitan City. The rainfall impact forecasting equations were obtained on a 1km x 1km grid with respect to water levels and critical rainfall thresholds. Critical rainfall was determined based on the end point of river and the discharge-water level relationship between design flood discharge and design flood level by analyzing water-rainfall in 3-hour critical rainfall. Model verification was performed using a heavy rain event with a total of 283.3 mm from July 22 to 24, 2020. According to the rainfall impact forecasting, 60 to 70% of the design flood level (“MEDIUM” alert) was issued on rivers between 10-11pm on July 23. In the rivers where the rainfall impact alert was issued, actual damages were found such as flooded roads and floodplain, which confirmed the appropriateness of the model. The high model accuracy was also validated by comparing the alert standard for water level with forecasted rainfall impact at the water level station in Suyeong River.

Considering the recent trend of climate change and increased flood risk from urbanization, it is necessary to prepare for floods when developing a riverside city. Both of the national pilot smart cities in South Korea are located along the river, but the flood management technique based on the characteristics of smart city remain insufficient. This study presented flood management techniques for smart cities around rivers from urban planning perspective through the analysis of characteristics of domestic and foreign smart cities and applied the technique to the Busan Eco Delta Smart City as a pilot study. The study results confirmed the feasibility of the technique in smart city development in consideration of flood risk, which would help towards an effective and efficient flood reduction planning. Although the applicability of the technique in land use and building projects has been confirmed in this study, further review would be needed for the creation of housing complex and building adaptation.

The SPI index was developed based on the fact that when drought occurs when reduced precipitation causes water shortage relative to the required water demand. However, the SPI index works under the assumption of stationarity or normality in which the probabilistic properties of the time series data do not change over time. It has limitations in reflecting information changing over time sufficiently, such as climate change. In this study, we used SPIt, a new frequency analysis method considering non-stationarity, which is different from the existing SPI index calculation. We first used daily precipitation data to construct the time series data of 7-day precipitation. For the duration of drought, both SPI and SPIt indices for 3 months were calculated on a monthly and weekly basis, and the reproducibility of each index was assessed for the areas experiencing restricted water supply. In addition, both indices were calculated for all national meteorological stations in South Korea, which was used to create a spatial distribution map and confirm their spatial reproducibility.

The magnitude and frequency of water-related disasters, such as torrential rainfall and typhoons, have been rapidly increasing due to climate change, causing massive casualties and property damages. A rapid and accurate investigation of flood damage is critical for efficient disaster management. However, flood damage investigations, such as flood inundation surveys or property damage surveys, takes considerable time to be completed in South Korea. This study suggests a flood monitoring process using drones, which has been fostered as one of the core industries in South Korea for its technological advancement and utilization. The process of drone-based flood monitoring includes sensor installation, flight plan, video recording and downloading, video connection, extraction of flood area extents, and application to the actual flood event in July 2020. The findings in this study suggest improvements on used drones, legal rules and regulations and solutions to technical issues with drones. Despite various limitations and problems, drone-based flood monitoring can help provide assistance in efficient disaster management through fast monitoring and verification of inundated areas.

Shinwol rainwater storage and drainage system is a large-scale urban underground facility for flood protection to supplement insufficient drainage capacity of the existing cities. For the smooth flow of flood water into the main tunnel, several conditions are considered to determine the type of energy reduction facility to be installed below the drop shaft. In this study, a hydraulic model experiment was conducted to calculate the most appropriate depth of plunge pool for Shinwol rainwater storage and drainage system. The experimental scenarios were designed with three depths of plunge pool and six discharges. It is found that the maximum pressure on the bottom surface increased for all three depths of plunge pools when the inflow discharge increased. The change in the location with the maximum and minimum pressure according to the increase in the inflow discharge for each scenario was considered to be due to a rotatory force in the upper drop shaft. This study found the scenario B as the optimal depth for Shinwol rainwater storage and drainage system.

This study aims to identify the effect of sexual harassment experiences of nursing students in clinical practice on their self-esteem and clinical competence. The survey data were collected from 319 nursing students in grade 3 and 4 enrolled in three universities located in G province of South Korea, and analyzed by descriptive statistical analysis, t-test and correlation analysis. The results show that 72.7% of nursing students experienced sexual harassment mostly from patients (74.9%) at general ward (64.9%). It is also found that, when experiencing harassment, they sought help from a nurse or head nurse and wanted the hospital to get involved to resolve the issue. A positive correlation was found between their experience with sexual harassment and their self-esteem and clinical competence. This study has contribution on providing basic information that can be used to create a safe nursing practice environment through prevention and protection measures against sexual harassment during clinical practice.

This is a descriptive research study to confirm the relationship between life stress, anxiety, self-control and smartphone addiction of students enrolled in the College of Education. The data were collected from a total of138 college of education students in J Province of South Korea and analyzed using the SPSS 23 program for t-test, Chi-square test, and multiple logistic regression analysis. As a result of the analysis, a positive correlation was found between life stress, anxiety, and smartphone addiction. According to the Chi-square test, it is found that female students had a higher smartphone addiction level compared to male students. The influence of smartphone addiction had a larger impact on self-control than that of life stress. The findings of this study suggest an early implementation of the addiction screening tests to address the problem of smartphone addiction, particularly for female students with a high risk of smartphone addiction. In addition, active intervention strategies should be included to the smartphone addiction prevention program.

The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing the perceived stress among female college students. The cross-sectional survey data were collected from 459 female college students in three provinces in South Korea by online method from August 27 to October 26, 2017., and analyzed by a stepwise multiple regression method. The perceived stress level was found high among those with no regular exercise or experiences with sexually transmitted infections. It was negatively correlated with self-efficacy, but positively correlated with uncertainty intolerance. The mean score of perceived stress was 19.45±4.79 (range: 6-40). The factors influencing the perceived stress of female college students include self-efficacy, intolerance of uncertainty, health status, and experiences with sexual transmitted infections, which explained 37.7% of the variability in the perceived stress according to the regression model (F=70.38, p<.001). The findings of this study suggest a need of developing interventions that prevent sexually transmitted infections, reduce intolerance of uncertainty, maintain good health, and increase self-efficacy in order to reduce the perceived stress of female college students in South Korea.