Homes Without Water and Electricity Forced Residents to Stay at Shelters

[Anchor]

In Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, which suffered severe flood damage, many residents are still unable to return to their homes.

Reporter Kim su-yun visited the scene.

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An apartment building in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, where three residents were killed or injured.

Residents who have been living in a shelter since the landslide temporarily stopped by the apartment to pack their belongings.

Before full-scale safety inspections can take place, the mud and debris must first be cleared away.

Since it is unclear how long this cleanup work will take, residents are first moving only their minimum essentials to the shelter.

It is difficult to predict when they will be able to return home.

["Should I take my autumn clothes..."]

In other apartment blocks that suffered relatively less damage, emergency safety diagnosis results came back favorable, allowing some residents to return home, but inconveniences persist, such as the inability to use gas.

[Kim Ok-hwa / Affected Apartment Resident: We have to take cold showers because the gas is cut off. We are very anxious about what might happen if it rains or another typhoon hits.]

Another apartment complex that suffered flood damage has been cut off from electricity and water supply.

[Resident of Apartment Affected by Water and Power Outages: The air conditioner doesn't work. I can tolerate the heat a bit, but the elevator not working is the hardest part. We can't even use the bathroom.]

The Geoje city government is providing lodging expense support so that flood-affected residents can use external accommodations.

However, according to government guidelines, the support fund is limited to 70,000 won per household regardless of family size, leaving some residents unable to find family-sized accommodations and forcing them to endure inconveniences while staying at shelters.

[Jaemin / Evacuatee: If you go to places like motels these days, isn't it more than 50,000 won per person? There is a smell of cigarettes, a musty mold smell, and it's hard to take a shower.]

As restoration work is progressing slower than expected, more meticulous support for the affected residents appears to be necessary.

(Video by Kyungmun | Video Editing by Park Na-young)

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