[Anchor]
Disaster-level heatwaves feel especially harsh in urban areas. The culprits are concrete and asphalt radiating heat like stoves, alongside a shrinking number of trees that serve as natural shade in the city.
Reporter An Huijae investigates.
[Reporter]
This is downtown Seoul this afternoon (August 7).
Asphalt roads glowing fiery red are boiling.
Local governments mobilize water-sprinkling trucks, but the cooling effect is temporary as the roads quickly heat up again.
[Lee Chang-min / Sanitation Division, Seongdong-gu Office, Seoul: Even if the water (from the sprinkling truck) dries up immediately, if it can give citizens even a slight feeling of coolness....]
"Impervious surfaces," paved with concrete and other materials that block rainwater from soaking into the ground, are the main culprits making summer heatwaves even more unbearable.
Unlike soil, they absorb heat and release it, acting like heaters.
[Yoon Young-jo / Professor, Department of Ecological Landscape Design, Kangwon National University: An impervious surface creates a structure where rainwater itself cannot circulate. The function of water absorbing heat to some extent through evaporation and latent heat decreases...]
The absorbed heat is released even after sunset, worsening tropical nights.
The ratio of impervious surfaces in Seoul reached 53.16% last year, ranking first nationwide.
Over the past six years, the area has increased by an amount equivalent to about 940 soccer fields.
Meanwhile, street trees serving as shade decreased by about 18,000 over the same period.
Walkways exposed to the blazing sun are heated like this.
Just a few steps away under dense trees, you can see a temperature difference of about 10 degrees Celsius.
[Seoul Forest Visitor: Heat comes up from the road, so it is too scary. That is why I come out here to the shade to rest, and it is cool...]
A recent research result showed that the higher the "canopy cover ratio," where trees cover more than 30% of the area, the lower the summer land surface temperature in autonomous districts.
[Je Seon-mi / Researcher, Urban Forest Research Center, National Institute of Forest Science: This scientifically supports that creating more urban trees and forests can be an effective way to respond to climate change and heatwaves.]
The Seoul Metropolitan Government stated, "Street trees have decreased somewhat during road maintenance and various development projects," adding, "We are devising measures to expand green areas."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video reporting: Choi Dae-woong, Kim Hangyul | Video editing: Yoon Tae-ho | Cooperation for coverage: Seongdong-gu Office, Seoul | Design: Kim Hang-gil, Choi Jae-young, Kang Yoon-jung)
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