[Anchor]

Some residents of the apartment complex who were urgently evacuated due to a landslide returned to their homes this morning (August 19). Return orders were issued starting from relatively less dangerous areas. While recovery efforts are being accelerated, full restoration could take over a month, suggesting that returning to daily life will take more time.

Reporter Dong Eunyeong has the story.

[Reporter]

At the apartment complex in Okpo-dong, Geoje, where a landslide two days ago left one person dead and two injured, excavators are continuously scooping up uprooted trees and piles of soil.

This is the building swept by the mudslide.

The inside of the households is still filled with mud, with children's toys and everyday items scattered everywhere.

Although Geoje City has mobilized heavy machinery to clear the debris, recovery work is not progressing rapidly.

This is because an emergency safety inspection result indicated that the possibility of additional landslides cannot be ruled out if it rains more, given that the ground has already been weakened.

However, based on the diagnostic result that there are no structural problems with the apartment building's foundation, some residents were able to return home this morning.

[Park Geum-dong / Affected Apartment Resident: Now I can wash up and sleep soundly. It feels great, very good. Keep up the hard work. Thank you.]

While some residents could not hide their tears upon returning home after three days,

[Jung Yu-jin / Affected Apartment Resident: My baby turned 10 years old. When we evacuated in a hurry that day, we couldn't pack any clothes... I'm so happy and I'm in tears.]

About 60 households living in the building directly hit by the soil remain homeless with no clear timeline.

There are also forecasts that additional safety diagnoses, restoration of the collapsed slope, and building reinforcement could take up to a month or longer.

[Kim Jung-su / Affected Apartment Resident: No matter how nice a relative's house is, it's not as good as my own home. We cannot be certain when it will be restored. It weighs heavily on our minds.]

Fortunately, the rain has stopped, but residents cannot shake their anxiety at the news that the horrifying landslide from that day could happen again.

[Shin Hee-bong / Affected Apartment Resident: If it rains again or something like that, if cracks form or things come crashing down from behind...]

(Camera Reporter: Kang Si-woo, Video Editing: Choi Hye-ran)