Volunteers Flock to Restore Flood-Hit Regions Amid Growing Disease Concerns

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Flood recovery efforts continued through the weekend in Geoje and Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province. As the weather grows hotter, concerns over infectious diseases are also rising.

Reporter Kim Min-sung from KNN has the story.

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Mud is filled to the brim inside a sea squirt breeding facility in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province.

A week after the extreme downpour, the recovery work feels endless no matter how much is done.

[Moon Kyung-joo / Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province: If it hadn't been for the landslide, there wouldn't have been damage like this. Because the entrance of the waterway was blocked and trees fell, all the mud overflowed.]

Over the weekend, some 3,000 volunteers gathered from all over to help South Gyeongsang Province.

Members of the volunteer fire brigade scoop up thick mud into basins and haul it outside.

Their bodies are quickly drenched in sweat from the repetitive labor.

[Kang Moon-ja & Ryu Jae-shik / Jingyo Volunteer Fire Brigade, Hadong, South Gyeongsang Province: Everything has to be done by hand, and it's so hot inside. (We also suffered greatly from fires and water disasters last year, so we hope this can be of even a little help.)]

Recovery in urban areas is also far from complete.

People wearing rubber boots lined up in front of an apartment complex's underground parking lot.

At the flooded apartment complex, residents have gathered to pump out the water pooled in the underground parking lot.

With the sweltering weather, there are also growing worries about the spread of infectious diseases such as typhoid fever and malaria.

Disinfection vehicles drive through various parts of the city, spraying disinfectants on household items piled up along the streets.

[Lee Byung-sub / Official, Geoje City Public Health Center: Rainwater, domestic sewage, and wastewater from various septic tanks might be mixed together. Because the weather is getting extremely hot, mosquitoes and flies can easily breed in large numbers.]

Currently, the emergency recovery rate in Geoje and Tongyeong stands at around 70%.

As more damage continues to be uncovered across various areas the further recovery progresses, calls are growing louder for the designation of additional special disaster zones.

(Video by Kim Tae-yong / KNN, Video editing by Park Hee-jin / KNN)

Kim Min-sung, KNN
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.