Heading to Airports to Escape Heat... Why Are 'Heatwave Shelters' Being Ignored?

[Anchor]

Amidst the recent heatwaves, many elderly people are still visiting Incheon International Airport.

Reporter Im Jihyeon visited the scene.

[Reporter]

Incheon International Airport on the afternoon of yesterday (August 6).

Elderly people gather around to play Janggi (Korean chess) and sit on benches sharing food.

This is a wooden platform located inside the airport.

Rather than travelers, it is easy to see elderly people who came to escape the heat, spreading out mats and sitting together in small groups.

Since subways and the Airport Railroad are free for those aged 65 and older, there is no burden of transportation costs, making the airport a popular summer retreat for seniors with its open spaces and air conditioning.

The reason they come all the way to the airport, even if it is far, is because it is a space where they do not have to worry about being judged.

[An Il-soon / Bupyeong-gu, Incheon: Can you sit in a cafe for two hours or however long without worrying? You can't. (At the airport), even if two or three hours pass, you can just sit quietly because there is no one to make you feel conscious or give you a hard time.]

Incheon International Airport Corporation maintains the position that the airport, as a public facility, is a place anyone can visit, and they are managing it to ensure that passengers do not experience inconvenience.

There is another reason why elderly people visit the airport.

Heatwave shelters operated by local governments for the general public lack sufficient guidance for seniors.

[Lee Young-sook / Gangseo-gu, Seoul: I don't know (about the heatwave shelters). I don't even know where they are.]

Among the 4,034 heatwave shelters in Seoul, about 70%, or 2,817, are operated on a membership basis, making it difficult for seniors to use them comfortably.

Only 202 locations are explicitly designated as accessible to anyone.

[Heo Jun-su / Professor, Department of Social Welfare, Soongsil University: Because the government built heatwave shelters from a supplier-centric perspective, they are not places where the elderly can stay comfortably. We need local communities that can well accommodate the individual needs of seniors within the local area.]

Experts point out that active promotion and more meticulous policies are needed so that elderly people can easily escape the heat close to home.

(Video by Kim Han-gyeol | Video Editing by Jang Hyun-ki | Design by Jang Seong-beom)

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