Military Deployed as Drought Relief Remains Out of Sight

[Anchor]

The national firefighting mobilization order issued for the Gyeongsangnam-do region, where the drought is prolonging, has been extended. While emergency water supply support continues for fields as well as livestock farms, even military units have stepped in to make all-out efforts to overcome the drought.

Reporter Kim Su-yun has the details.

[Reporter]

On the second day of the national firefighting mobilization order today (the 13th), 200 fire engines gathered from across the country supplied more than 7,600 tons of water to fields throughout Gyeongsangnam-do.

Some 20 vehicles from the Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Headquarters also joined the water supply support.

In Haman, the Army deployed 15 water tankers and about 40 troops to help resolve the drought.

[Choi Seong-sik / Battalion Commander, 39th Infantry Division (Hapcheon, Haman, and Uiryeong), ROK Army: These are vehicles used for wartime military operations and CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear) support. The water tankers have been dispatched for public support.]

As water gushed like a waterfall into the dried-up irrigation channels, farmers could not take their eyes off the sight.

[Jung Chang-baek / Haman-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do: Water has been gushing out for about 15 days now. It feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest.]

However, water shortages are growing increasingly severe due to the prolonged drought.

With Hamyang entering the "caution" stage for agricultural water drought today, the entire Gyeongsangnam-do province has now entered drought stages.

Uiryeong and Changnyeong, previously at the "alert" stage, were upgraded to the "serious" stage, bringing the total number of "serious" areas to five.

The average reservoir storage rate in Gyeongsangnam-do remains at 32.8%.

Requests for drinking water support for livestock farms are also pouring in.

Behind me is a livestock farm housing over 20,000 pigs.

As these pigs faced a shortage of drinking water, firefighters who completed rigorous quarantine procedures stepped in to provide water supply support.

[Kang Byung-su / Firefighter, Prevention Division, Yangsan Fire Station: We mostly provide water support to places like fields, and it is rare to support livestock farms. But coming out to the field, the amount of water needed is huge and the situation seems much more serious than I thought.]

Ultimately, the National Fire Agency decided to extend the national firefighting mobilization order, which was originally set to end today, for the time being.

The Navy, Air Force, and Korea Forest Service also plan to launch water supply support soon.

The fire authorities plan to monitor rainfall and reservoir storage rates to decide when to lift the national firefighting mobilization order if the drought situation improves.

(Video Journalist: Jung Kyung-moon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.