Towards a Paradigm Shift in Disaster Preparedness

This study is mainly associated with examining disaster exercises in Korea to prepare for, and improve the response of the emergency services to disruptive challenges. In order to practically evaluate whether or not simulation exercises in Korea are adequate to handle crisis situations of a highly uncertain nature, this paper conducted in-depth case studies into three representative simulation exercise in Korea, ‘Keungogae Subway Counter Terrorism Exercise 2009’, ‘Safe Korea Exercise 2010 Earthquake Exercise’, and ‘Safe Korea Exercise 2010 Subway Fire Exercise’. Through the case studies, it was discovered that the current practices of simulation exercises in Korea can be categorized into the four main themes: ‘Top-level Commitment and Support’, ‘Repeating Training through Rehearsals’, ‘Box Seats, Ill-structured Scenario Scripts, and a Lack of Adaptation’, and ‘Podium and Speech-based Debriefs’. In this study, it is argued that Korean simulation exercises need to allow adaptation and diversion to take place, encouraging communication and discussion between exercise players. Furthermore, ensuing after-action reviews (debriefs) in Korea should be transformed into a discussion-orientated style from the current evaluation-orientated one, in order to promote individual and organizational learning.