Government to Designate Taean a Disaster Area

The government said Monday that it will designate six places, including Taean, Seocheon, Hongseong, Dangjin-gun, Seosan, and Boryeong, where damage from the oil spill is huge, as disaster areas.

However, the damaged area was over 8,000ha as of Monday, the fourth day since the oil spill. The number of disaster areas is expected to grow as the oil spreads with the tides.

Park Myeong-jae, minister of government administration and home affairs, said Monday in the disaster briefing room in Taean that the government will declare parts of Taean county a disaster area.

The National Emergency Management Agency has started choosing disaster areas after the announcement.

An official of the National Emergency Management Agency said that officials cannot designate affected areas because the leaked oil is still moving and more and more areas could be categorized as disaster areas if the damage gets worse.

Local governments designated as disaster areas will be funded by the central government. The government will also allow local residents to pay taxes nine months after the deadline, offer tax cut for victims who lost more than 30 percent of their property, and provide exemption from acquisition taxes and registration taxes when they buy new homes.

Damage Expanding-

The damage currently affects 8,223ha including 2,108ha of fish farms on five seashores in Taean, 221ha of beach resorts, and 5,894ha of fisheries. This area is more than twice of that of Sunday (3,500ha), according to South Chungcheong Province.

The Maritime Pollution Emergency Response Center said that the oil has spread more than 20km to the northeast from the accident location to near the Daesan Petrochemical Complex in Daesan-eup. To the southeast, the oil has reached Pasudo islet in Anmyeon-eup, Taean, 50km away.

The emergency center is making every effort to stop the damage at Garorim Bay, which has a lot of fish farms in S. Chungcheong, by setting up more oil fences.