[Anchor]
We continue with our coverage of the severe heavy rain damage in the southern coast of Gyeongsangnam-do. In Tongyeong, a woman in her 60s was buried and injured in a landslide early the day before yesterday (August 17). However, our reporting has revealed that local residents received emergency landslide warnings long after the disaster had already occurred.
Reporter Kim Minjun brings us this exclusive report.
[Reporter Kim Minjun]
At 5:03 AM on August 17, the Coast Guard received a report asking to rescue a woman in her 60s who was buried in a landslide on Gonrido Island, Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do.
At the time, torrential rain of 74.9 mm per hour was pounding Tongyeong.
[Son of the Landslide Victim: I told her to come inside quickly because it was raining heavily, but at that exact moment, there was a popping sound and in less than 3 seconds, we were swept away together by the mud.]
It was an hour and a half later when the victim's 30-year-old son, who dug out the mud with his bare hands, and the Coast Guard finally rescued the woman and transferred her to a hospital.
However, SBS reporting confirmed that it was only around 7:00 AM—about 30 minutes after the rescue—that the Tongyeong City Hall sent out landslide evacuation text messages to residents.
A "belated" text message notifying residents of evacuations and landslide advisories was dispatched only after a resident had already been injured and completely rescued from the landslide.
While acknowledging that the text message was sent late, an official from Tongyeong City explained that there were unavoidable circumstances.
[Tongyeong City Hall Official: We simply didn't expect it to rain that heavily in the early morning. It was too difficult for us to make a judgment.]
Currently, landslide crisis alerts operate by the Korea Forest Service sending prediction information to local governments every hour, upon which local governments decide whether to issue special advisories or send text messages. However, the local government's decision-making was delayed.
Although the landslide advisory system was expanded from two tiers to three tiers the year before last to prevent such errors and secure sufficient evacuation time, it proved entirely useless.
Experts emphasized that under the current advisory system divided between the Korea Forest Service and local governments, municipalities must establish internal systems that allow them to make more prompt decisions.
(Video reporting: Jung Gyeong-mun, Video editing: Shin Se-eun, Design: Seo Hyun-jung)
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[Anchor]
In Geoje, where one person died and two others were injured due to landslides, an untimely debate over whether the incident constitutes a landslide has emerged. While the landslide department of the Geoje City Hall insisted that the accident was not a landslide, the apartment construction department countered that it should be regarded as one. The departments appear to be shifting responsibility in the face of human casualties.
This is followed by an exclusive report by reporter Cho Mingi.
[Reporter Cho Mingi]
This is the apartment complex in Okpo-dong, Geoje, where a first-floor resident died in a landslide early the day before yesterday (August 17).
The back mountain, which collapsed and engulfed the lower floors of the apartment, still reveals a steep slope.
Retaining walls and fences to prevent falling rocks were installed, but they proved useless. Furthermore, the short distance from the retaining wall—so narrow that barely one person could squeeze through—worsened the damage.
[Kim Jung-su / Affected Apartment Resident (The day before yesterday): Trees were collapsing and sweeping down, so I was really shocked.]
However, the Geoje City Hall's landslide department argued that this accident was not a landslide.
They claimed that because the section where the soil and sand washed down is located within the apartment building site rather than forest land, it cannot be classified as a landslide.
[Geoje City Hall Official A: All causative actions and such are currently unrelated to a landslide. From our perspective, although it is a mountain, we are stating that this is the collapse of a housing retaining wall within a building site.]
The department told reporters to inquire with the apartment construction department within the same city hall instead, but that department expressed complete bewilderment.
They maintained that the incident must be regarded as a natural disaster, specifically a landslide.
[Geoje City Hall Official B: From my perspective, obviously the neighboring forest land collapsed together. Cutting off just the building site portion and saying only that part collapsed makes no sense.]
The affected residents reacted with absurdity to the debate itself.
[Park Jong-gi / Affected Apartment Resident: It's a mountain. If it's not a mountain, what is it? Is this a field?]
Even on the "Landslide Hazard Map" released by the Korea Forest Service, the area around the accident site is classified as Grade 1, indicating the highest probability of landslides.
Regarding the untimely landslide debate, an official from the Korea Forest Service told SBS, "Administratively speaking, it might not be viewed as a landslide, but from the perspective of residents and the public, it could be difficult to understand."
(Video reporting: Jung Gyeong-mun, Yoon Hyeong, Kang Si-woo, Video editing: Lee Sang-min, Design: Kang Yun-jung)
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