As economic losses caused by climate disasters surges around the world, related damage in Korea is also increasing rapidly. With extreme heavy rain and heatwaves becoming commonplace, damage to infrastructure such as roads, railways, and bridges built based on past climates is rapidly rising. According to an analysis of climate change damage costs by Professor Yoo Jong-hyun's research team at Seoul National University's Graduate School of Environmental Studies on the 30th, the nationwide climate change damage costs are projected to rise from 1.82 trillion won in 2030 to 34.09 trillion won by 2050. The rapid increase in damage is because weather anomalies, which were once thought to occur only once every few hundred years, have recently been recurring frequently. Heavy rains exceeding 100mm per hour have occurred too frequently, with the heavy rains in Geoje and Tongyeong in Gyeongnam being particularly notable. A bigger problem is that the design and management standards for infrastructure used for decades cannot keep up with the changing climate, so the damaged facilities are being If restoration is done, there is a high possibility that funds will be repeatedly reinvested in the same areas. Experts point out that the budget structure for post-disaster recovery funds needs to be changed first, and instead of spending money only on affected areas, they should analyze rainfall, terrain, population and facility density, and invest in high-risk areas in advance. The dispersal of climate disaster response across multiple ministries is also a problem, as climate change forecasts, disaster response, and road and railway management are handled by different ministries, making it difficult to consistently coordinate budget and project priorities. Additionally, the direction of long-term projects is repeatedly shaken whenever the government or local government heads change.
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