In mid-August, torrential rains exceeding 100mm per hour struck various parts of the Gyeongsangnam-do region, causing extensive damage. Among them, Geoje and Tongyeong in Gyeongsangnam-do suffered particularly severe impacts. While Tongyeong fortunately escaped with just one injury, Geoje recorded one fatality and two injuries. We looked into whether the casualties caused by the heavy rainfall were simply an unfortunate tragedy, or if someone's response fell short in the meantime.
1. Rescuing Mother from Mud, but "Landslide Warning" Comes Too Late
First, let's look at Tongyeong. In Tongyeong, where one person was injured, the evacuation text messages were sent out far too late. There is an island in Tongyeong called Gonrido, where a woman in her 60s was swept away by a landslide debris flow. That was around 4:30 a.m. on the 17th, when it was raining heavily. The Coast Guard received the rescue report at 5:03 a.m. that same day. However, the text message warning of a landslide and urging evacuation was sent out two hours later at 7:00 a.m.
The rescue operation at the time was said to be desperate. Our reporting team met the victim's son, who told us that his mother was found covered in a blanket, and that the Coast Guard and the son had to manually cut away various piles of mud and debris surrounding her to carry out the rescue. Fortunately, although she suffered a fracture in her leg, her life was not in danger, and we heard she is currently receiving treatment at a nearby hospital. The rescue operation was completed in about an hour and a half, finishing around 6:30 a.m., meaning the evacuation text was sent out as an after-the-fact measure 30 minutes after the injury had already occurred.
Some people are skeptical, asking what real meaning sending out text messages individually holds, but that is not the case. Evacuation text messages are extremely important. Many people are unaware that a landslide has even occurred and rely on these texts to decide to evacuate. This is why disaster alert texts are repeatedly sent out when natural disasters occur. When we asked the Tongyeong City Hall why the transmission was delayed, they confessed to our reporting team that it was difficult to make a judgment at the scene at the time.
[Tongyeong City Hall Official: We never expected that it would rain so heavily in the early morning. It was just too difficult for us to make a judgment.]
The Korea Forest Service provides landslide information to local governments at one-hour intervals. They send information on which areas are particularly dangerous and in what specific aspects and to what extent, allowing each local government to make judgments tailored to their own circumstances. Tongyeong City admitted that their judgment was delayed during this local government decision-making process. Looking at it more specifically, they explained that they did not know it would rain that heavily in the early morning hours, that not all public officials on duty are experts on landslides, and above all, that holding an emergency situation-assessment meeting to go through administrative procedures to decide whether to issue disaster texts or landslide warnings is neither easy nor fast at 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. While we can understand the officials' explanation, it was hard for the reporting team to readily accept such a delayed judgment as an excuse once casualties and human life losses had already occurred.
2. "Not a Landslide?" Residents Seethe with Anger
Let's also examine the case in Geoje. In Okpo-dong, Geoje, a nearby mountain collapsed, sending mud and soil sweeping down and causing casualties. One person died and two others were injured. Here, a different problem arose. There were differing opinions even within the city hall over whether this constituted a landslide or not. To our eyes, soil collapsed like that, so if that isn't a landslide, what is? The residents were also dumbfounded, but there were complex administrative complications behind the scenes.
Inside the Geoje City Hall, one department referred to the soil collapse as a "landslide," while another called it a "slope failure." The terminology is a bit difficult, but "slope failure" means that a slope collapsed. In other words, soil and rocks collapsed and washed down a slope—which is essentially the same as a landslide in that an inclined surface gives way. So, what is the difference? A landslide is a phenomenon that occurs in natural areas such as mountainous regions and forests. Because it occurs in a natural zone, it is classified as a natural disaster, and the responsibility for restoration and compensation lies with the state or local government. Consequently, the Korea Forest Service and individual local governments step in for restoration.
On the other hand, a slope failure occurs in an artificial zone. Land where someone artificially cut into a mountainous area and performed foundational work to put up a building is commonly referred to as a building site (daeji). Slope failures occurring in such artificial areas like building sites are typically the responsibility of the owner. Therefore, it is considered a man-made disaster rather than a natural disaster, shifting the responsibility for restoration from the state or local government to the private sector. The department managing forests argued that this was a slope failure and a man-made disaster, whereas the department managing buildings insisted it was a landslide and a natural disaster.
[Geoje City Hall Official A: All the causative actions and such are unrelated to a landslide right now, and from our perspective, we are stating that this is the collapse of a residential retaining wall that occurred within a building site.]
[Geoje City Hall Official B: From my perspective, naturally, the nearby forest land also collapsed together. Saying that only the building site part was cleanly cut off and collapsed just doesn't make sense.]
Ultimately, it was concluded to be a slope failure because it was viewed as an artificial plot of land that a construction company had previously purchased and cut into to build apartments. We understand that this is a sensitive issue because it inevitably ties into questions of liability. However, from the residents' perspective, why should it matter whether it is called a landslide or a slope failure? As you may have seen in many videos, the retaining wall collapsed while soil from the mountain behind it washed down, so residents naturally had no choice but to think of this as a landslide, and some residents still cannot return to their homes several weeks later. Yet, if they are suddenly told to shoulder that responsibility by paying management fees, which residents could possibly accept that?
[Nearby Resident: That is not right. That really isn't right. Anyone looking at this would call it a landslide.]
[Nearby Resident: It doesn't make any sense. It makes no sense at all. Why should the people here bear the responsibility?]
3. Landslide or Man-made Disaster? It Has Happened Before
In fact, disputes arguing over whether something is a landslide or not are not without precedent. Our reporting team looked back and found that heavy rain hit an apartment complex in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, in August 2022. A retaining wall collapsed back then as well. Questions arose at that time too about who should clean it up, and strictly speaking, administratively, it was not a landslide either. In other words, because it was a man-made disaster, it was an issue that the residents should have borne the cost for. However, as it was designated as a special disaster zone at the time and garnered widespread public attention, about 3.8 billion won from municipal, district, and national funds was injected. Retaining wall restoration work was carried out, and we confirmed that the residents paid nothing at the time.
Tongyeong and Geoje were also designated as special disaster zones last week. Geoje City Hall also told our reporting team that while strictly speaking, the responsibility for compensation and restoration lies with the private sector, due to safety issues and the extreme danger, the city is also looking into and reviewing ways it can help. Ultimately, however, we will have to wait and see how things turn out. Heavy rain will fall every year, and landslides like this can happen again at any time. We must carefully examine whether there are any loopholes in our disaster alert and recovery systems.
(Reported by Kim Minjun | Production: Shin Hee-suk | Video Reporting: Kang Si-woo | Video Editing: Hong Jin-young | Design: Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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