The 119 rescue crew in Seoul were dispatched to deal with emergencies an average of 569 times a day, or every five minutes, last year.

The majority of the cases were fire but a growing number of people asked for their help in searching for missing or runaway family members, the Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters said Tuesday.

In its report about last year’s activity, 119 emergency staffers were dispatched to a total of 94,738 rescue scenes, of which 77,634 cases concluded with the agents’ taking safety action as stated in regulations.

Rescue crew rushed to help 19,199 people, who ended up in 301 deaths, 3,456 wounded, and 15,362 saved. The figure is equivalent to dispatch in every five minutes, taking safety measures in every six minutes and saving life in every 27 minutes, the headquarters said. It also means that one in every 552 Seoulites have received help from the 119 system last year.

The majority of the reports were of fires, with 16,207 cases or 17.1 percent, since the telephone dial number 119 was initially dedicated to fire reports. An average of 15.1 cases of fire breakout were reported to the disaster headquarters daily, damage reaching an average of 39 million won ($33,913). The authorities said cigarette butts were the main cause of fire, followed by aged electricity facilities and arson.

Others in need of rescue were those trapped or stuck in a closed spaces (12.3 percent), as well as those dealing with elevator problems (4.5 percent) or traffic accidents (4.2 percent.) The lion’s share of the users were those aged 50 or older and 36.8 percent of users were in their 60s or older, showing that the rescue system was especially useful for aged people.

Most notable was the growing demand for searches for missing people. About 60 reports of missing family members came in daily, usually with fears that they had committed suicide or run away from home. The figure is about 66.4 percent higher than the previous year’s 34 cases a day.

“The most important thing is the safety of citizens. We are striving to provide a wide range of services to enhance people’s safety awareness,” said Choi Woong-gil, administrator of the disaster headquarters.

By Bae Ji-sook
(baejisook@heraldcorp.com)