• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.161-171
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• 2018

Objectives: This study aimed to identify the process of psychosocial assessment, the experience of intervention, and the improvement after the disaster that Danwon high school students survived from the sinking of the Motor Vessel (MV) Sewol in South Korea on April 16, 2014. Methods: We conducted in-depth qualitative research using individual interviews from January to February 2017. Twenty-one of 75 Danwon high school students survived by the MV Sewol disaster were studied. Two interviewers participated in the in-depth interview. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed through content analysis based on psychosocial assessment and intervention after the disaster. Results: Twenty-one participants were 20 years old, where 10 were male (47.62%), and 11 were female (52.38%). More than 75% of the interviewed students felt that mental health services were needed, and more than 85% required mental health assessments. Regarding psychiatric symptoms, the students reported that they suffered depression and insomnia (19.05%), anxiety (14.29%), nightmares and phobias (9.52%), and difficulties regarding concentration, aggression, and game addiction (4.76%). Conclusion: Despite survivors experiencing the same disaster, there were differences in their responses to mental health assessments and interventions experienced during the three years, and conflicting opinions were reported. In planning future evaluations and interventions, it is necessary for strategies to cope with flexibly to consider the characteristics and symptoms of the survivors while maintaining principles.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2017

The current study aims to propose a reorganization plan for the national emergency management system to improve the current organizational structure for responding to national disasters and emergency situations. As a theoretical framework, the current study identified four key elements of successful disaster response systems: responsiveness, controllability, expertise, and devotedness. On the basis of the four key elements of disaster response systems, this study critically reviewed the current state of the organizational structure of the Korean national emergency response system by discussing the issues inherent in the current structure and by doing a comparative analysis of two high-profile national disaster cases-the Sewol ferry disaster in 2014 and the Gwangsan Rescue of buried people in 2013. Then, this study proposed the reorganization plan for the national disaster response system in which the NEMA is under direct control of the Prime Minister of Korea. It coordinates and controls the related government departments, such as the police, maritime police, and military during the national disaster and emergency situation. This study also proposed a reorganizational plan for the regional disaster response system in Korea. Finally, it was suggested that the status of firefighters should be elevated to the national public servant level in order to achieve organizational efficiency and solve existing problems that come from the current separated systems.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.176-187
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• 2014

Tour is cultural method that makes educational effects smoothly, metaphorically. In a context, dark tour have a function that sustains memorial of accidents and with social meaning, ethic value. This study aims to understand practical solutions of Sewol-Ho memorial on focusing Dark Tourism. This paper considers fascination with this subject and examines explored for good decision. It means that we examines a construction of tour contents within the dark tourism. This article evaluates an dark tourism in a contents program various country, for considering in a case at a Sewol-Ho accident. As a result, we comment some variety choice of strategy effectiveness for a sustainability of ethic value and education memorial.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2015.05a
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• pp.439-440
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• 2015

There has been a big need of Safety Education for the power plants with a high risk due to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and the tragic accident of Sewol Ferry. The object of this research is for studying ways of developing contents for customized Power Plants Safety Education applied with 'Story Viewing' technology in order to improve the present format of Power Plant Safety Education based on hard copied documents so as to prevent human mistakes because of lack of system and ability of initial response which come from safety frigidity shown in the case of Sewol Accident. 'Story-viewing' applied to Power Plant Safety Education is the methodology to enhance information communicability utilizing IT/Visualization technology combined with Story Telling that is an effective propagation way.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.9
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• pp.1156-1162
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• 2014

To prevent the Sewol incident again, by which the victims are 294 dead and still 10 missing, this study analyzed the change of safety consciousness of passengers onboard ship comparatively before and after the Sewol incident. The survey had performed 2 times at Jeju coastal cruise terminal at February 2014 and May 2014, and effective respondents were 394 and 401, respectively. After the Sewol incidents, the answers' ratio that they would follow the routes that the crews show and they would follow the crews' evacuation guides are decreased 24.5% and 18.5%, respectively. This means that the reliability on the crew members were decreased. Although 77.6% passengers responded that they felt nervousness onboard ship, 60% did not take safety lesson(s) and 45% did not know how to wear a life jacket. And also over 50% did not check the evacuation route map and the location of lifeboat, respectively. Meanwhile, 86.9% respondents answered the system of safey lesson should be changed, which has normally done by TV set.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.456-463
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• 2018

Increases in disasters and damage caused by the disasters in modern society, have a negative impact on local economy. In particular, a local economic downturn leads to a deterioration in quality of life of local residents and causes mental and material damage. Therefore, in order to achieve stable and sustainable local economic development, it is necessary to strengthen the resilience of the local economy. This study aims to estimate indicators of local economic resilience of Jindo County after the Sewol Ferry disaster, analyze a trend of the economic level after the disaster through time series data and suggest improvement plans of the local crisis management and restoration policy that considers future economic resilience. Results of this study showed that a decrease in the number of tourists and of workers in related industries hit tourism industry, causing a loss to the local economy and that an increase in a drinking rate of and stress awareness rate of local residents was a stress factor due to disaster impacts. These findings provides policy implications that it is necessary to make efforts for improving the depressed local image by utilizing local resources in the area, to build a sustainable long-term economic recovery policy and to provide psychological treatment and the relevant government and local government's support for relieving the stress of local residents due to the disaster impacts.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.321-328
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• 2017

The effects of the Sewol ferry disaster have infiltrated into various fields, such as politics, the economy, and social fields in Korea, and the population's consciousness of the importance of safety has been strengthened by the disaster. The purpose of, this study is to empirically verify whether there has been any change in the fire service environment following the Sewol ferry disaster. Such a change would be expected to have produced a change in the consciousness of the government about safety and increased the level of support. This study sets out five research hypotheses and verifies their adoption. The years studied are those before and after the accident occurred, viz. 2013 and 2015, respectively, and the main statistical technique is the t-test. The main results of this study are as follows. First, there was no significant difference in the fire-service demand between the two years. Second, the fire-service budget showed a significant difference between the two years. Third, the regional resources facilities tax showed a significant difference between the two years. Fourth, the fire-service budget considering the fire-service demand showed no statistically significant difference. Fifth, the fire service-demand considering (the number of) fire-fighters was significantly different in the rescue and emergency medical services between the two years. Sixth, the fire service-demand considering fire-equipment showed no significant difference between the two years.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.179-187
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• 2018

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to assess physical illnesses, psychological difficulties, and daily life function of victims' family members one year after the Sewol ferry disaster, in order to establish a basis of strategies to promote their mental health and resilience. Methods : We statistically analyzed self-reported data collected from a survey conducted between March 22 and 28, 2015 with 139 family members of victims. Results : All respondents complained about one or more psychological difficulties, and 95.4% of them had newly diagnosed or exacerbated physical illnesses. An increased number of psychological difficulties was associated with a greater tendency to present physical illnesses including chronic headache, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, obstetrico-gynecological, genitourinary, and cardiovascular disease. In addition, the majority of respondents reported a decrease in life functioning. Specifically, 71.9% reported interpersonal avoidance and 63.9% reported difficulty in returning to work. Conclusions : Not only psychological trauma but also physical illness and daily functioning should be evaluated in detail and actively addressed in the bereaved family members after a catastrophe.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.443-477
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to explore the continuing bonds experienced by adolescent victims' 15 parents of the Sewol ferry disaster. The research aim is to classify the continuing bonds into representational, functional, emotional, and relationship characteristics through contents analysis and identify them. The way dimension was found to be continuing bond through "physical objects and space," "dream and spiritual exchange," "personal memorial and ritual activities," "thoughts of deceased children," and "surviving children." In the "functional dimension," it was found that sustainable ties help families find new meanings and purposes in their lives and comfort them by making them feel they are with their children. In addition, at the emotional level, they experienced 'positive emotions' while feeling with their children, and experienced 'pain', and some research participants found it difficult to sustain the bond itself. At the level of each relationship characteristic, the relationship between parents and children was an extension of the relationship even after the child was deceased, and the relationship characteristics were reproduced. The implications for grief counseling were presented by applying a dead two-axis model to the results of this study.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.457-469
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• 2020

Objective: This study was designed to estimate the precise nationwide number of those who used humidifier disinfectants (HDs) and experienced specific health effects, including death, due to exposure to HDs in Korea between 1994 and 2011. Methods: A total of 5,000 households (15,472 people) were surveyed by stratifying the sample with a design that is equivalent to nationally approved household systematic sampling and face-to-face interviews from October 16, 2019 to December 30, 2019. Results: The proportion of use of humidifier disinfectants at home was 18.4% (2,844/15,472 people) and the proportion of those who experienced health effects among those who were exposed to HDs was 10.7% (303/2,844 people). Based on these factors, it was estimated that 8.94 million people (95% CI=8.25-9.63 million) were exposed to HDs and 0.95 million people (95% CI=0.87-1.02 million) experienced health effects, which means almost one in five and one in fifty Koreans respectively. The estimated number of deaths from HDs were 20,366 people (95% CI=18,801-21,931). Conclusion: The survey was large and analyzed a representative sample across the country, so this estimation of the nationwide population exposed and at risk to HDs is more accurate and reliable than previous studies. However, it is necessary to confirm whether results similar to those of this study can be reproduced through a survey using a cross-sectional survey at the national level. In particular, a survey focused on death cases is needed.