The flood forecasting systems in the Republic of Korea

There are five river flood control offices, which control the five major rivers in Korea. The five major rivers are Han, Nakdong, Geum, Youngsan and Somjin River. The modern flood forecasting system was introduced in early 1970's. From 1996 to 2000, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation (MOCT) enlarged the flood forecasting and waring systems from the 5 major rivers to the small and medium size rivers and streams where tele metering(TM) monitoring facilities were installed during the 4-year period. In the lmjin River, where large scale flooding occurred in 1998 and 1999. But the upstream is located in North Korea and there were no available hydrological data. Therefore the rainfall-gauging radar system has been operating since 2000. The Han River is the largest rivers in Korea. So, in this paper the Han River is described as an example of the flood forecasting system in Korea.(Author)