South Korea flood death toll rises to 39, President Yoon blames botched responses
17 July, 2023
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Monday (Jul 17) blamed authorities' failure to follow disaster response rules as the death toll from days of torrential rain grew to 39, including a dozen people found dead in a submerged underpass.
The rains have pummelled the country's central and southern regions since Thursday as the rainy season that started in late June reaches its peak. The interior ministry has also reported nine people missing and 34 injured across the nation.
Twelve deaths, including three bodies retrieved overnight, occurred in a tunnel in the central city of Cheongju, where 16 vehicles, including a bus, were swamped by a flash flood on Saturday after a river levee collapsed. Nine others were hurt.
The incident fuelled questions over South Korea's efforts to prevent and respond to flood damage. Some drivers who use the road regularly blamed the government for failing to ban access to the underpass even though floods were widely forecast. According to Yonhap, South Korean police said they would launch an investigation into the fatal flooding of the underpass in Cheongju.
Floods have claimed dozens of lives during recent rainy seasons as weather patterns have become more extreme.
Yoon, just back from an overseas trip, on Monday convened an intra-agency meeting on disaster response and said the situation was made worse because of poor management of vulnerable areas.
"We've repeatedly emphasised access control over dangerous areas and preemptive evacuation since last year, but if basic principles of disaster response are not kept on the spot, it is difficult to ensure public safety," Yoon told the meeting.
He called for authorities to make the utmost effort to rescue victims and vowed support for recovery work and affected families, including designating flood-hit areas as special disaster zones.
Ahead of a visit to flood-hit North Gyeongsang province on Monday, Yoon said: "This kind of extreme weather event will become commonplace - we must accept climate change is happening, and deal with it."
The idea that extreme weather linked to climate change "is an anomaly and can't be helped needs to be completely overhauled", he said, calling for "extraordinary determination" to improve the country's preparedness and response.
South Korea will "mobilise all available resources" including the military and police to help with rescue efforts, he said.
"The rainy season is not over yet, and the forecast is now that there will be torrential rain again tomorrow," he added.
The majority of the casualties - including 19 of the dead and eight of the missing - were from North Gyeongsang province and were largely due to massive landslides in the mountainous area that engulfed houses with people inside.
Some of the people who have been reported missing were swept away when a river overflowed in the province, the interior ministry said.
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The Korea Meteorological Administration forecast more heavy rain to Wednesday and urged the public to "refrain from going outside".
South Korea is regularly hit by flooding during the summer monsoon period, but the country is typically well-prepared and the death toll is usually relatively low.
Scientists say climate change has made weather events around the world more extreme and more frequent.
South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding last year, which left more than 11 people dead.
They included three people who died trapped in a Seoul basement apartment of the kind that became internationally known because of the Oscar-winning Korean film "Parasite".
The government said at the time that the 2022 flooding was the heaviest rainfall since Seoul weather records began 115 years ago, blaming climate change for the extreme weather.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
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