"When Can We Go Home?"... Island Residents Face Even Harsher Recovery Hurdles Than Mainland

[Anchor]

Island regions face significant constraints in transporting equipment and personnel, making flood recovery even more difficult after heavy rain.

Reporter Kim Su-yun visited Gonrido Island in Tongyeong, which suffered flood damage.

[Reporter]

This is Gonrido Island in Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, where about 30 households live.

Torrential downpours in the early hours of the 17th washed mud and debris into the village, damaging multiple houses and burying a woman in her 60s. Our reporting team inspected the disaster site.

The front doors were blocked by mud, and piles of soil were stacked high behind the houses.

Inside the home where the woman in her 60s was injured.

The storage room was completely filled with mud, and the main gate and utility room were shattered beyond recognition.

The son, who personally rescued his buried mother, also injured his arms and legs. With their home completely destroyed, the mother is staying at a hospital while the son stays at a nearby guesthouse.

[Son of the Burial Victim : I've lived here for about 10 years, and it's the first time we've seen this much rain, and the first time we've experienced flood damage so severe that retaining walls collapsed.]

The mud that engulfed the village came down from the grounds of a nearby closed school.

The schoolyard ground could not withstand the heavy rain and collapsed.

The extreme downpour weakened the schoolyard ground, and the mud swept straight down some 50 meters to engulf the houses below.

[Kim Chan-o / Gonrido Resident, Tongyeong : Since a year's worth of rain fell at once, the pressure pushed down toward the vulnerable areas of the ground.]

There are also houses where the yards completely collapsed.

They are precariously tilted, leaving it uncertain when additional collapses might occur.

Roads in front of the houses show clear signs of cracked foundations, leaving the family unable to even enter their home and spending days in anxiety.

[Kim Seong-jin / Gonrido Resident, Tongyeong : It seems the yard collapsed in just three or four seconds. Fearing secondary collapses, we can't even step inside the house.]

Because island areas face greater restrictions than the mainland in deploying equipment and personnel, recovery is expected to take longer, making practical support measures for the affected residents urgently needed.

(Camera filming: Jeong Kyeong-mun, Video editing: Park Na-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.