<Anchor>



I delivered the news yesterday (9th) that a family living in the semi-underground died as rainwater rushed into the house.

The city of Seoul said that it would not build a semi-subterranean house, which is vulnerable to heavy rain, in the future, and that it would also remove existing ones.



Reporter Park Chan-beom pointed out whether this would solve the problem.



<Reporter> This



is a multi-family house in the basement where three members of the family died the other day.



The difference in height between the ground floor on the first floor and the semi-basement window is only 7 cm.



When rainwater exceeds 7 cm, it seeps into the semi-subsurface ground.



Security bars are poison for escape and rescue operations.



If the entrance is blocked, you have to break the window to get out, because it is blocked by a fixed iron grate.



[Jeon Ye-seong / Resident of the semi-underground: A thief comes in, of course there is that (crime prevention effect), but people die.

If there is a fire or if there is a flood, you can't go out and escape...

.]



If the gap between the ground and the threshold is only 10cm and the iron grate is fixed, there is no emergency escape method when the water flows back toward the front door.



In case this happens, it is important to know how to usually remove the iron grate.



Specific measures should be prepared to evacuate households vulnerable to heavy rain, including semi-basement houses, first.



Taking a semi-basement building where three family members died, as an example, even if rainwater fills only 20 cm above the floor of the semi-basement floor, the weight of water reaches about 1,000 kg.



Since it is virtually difficult for a semi-subterranean resident to open the door even a little later, it is important to deliver evacuation information quickly.



[Lee Song-gyu / President of Korea Safety Experts Association: When water comes in, several tons of power are coming down.

Also, even with the same weight, the amount of impact can be doubled because there is a falling speed.]



When a disaster occurs, the local government spreads it through text messages or SNS.



However, there are no emergency personnel who directly visit semi-basement households where vulnerable groups such as the elderly live and help them evacuate.



Neighbors are taking over the role of evacuation depending on the situation, but this is not enough.



[Half Il-seok/Nearby residents: I live here, so I saw the situation and thought it was impossible, so contact all the tenants and come out…

.]



In the case of Seoul, the number of semi-basement houses is about 200,000, or 5% of the total households.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government said today that it will not build semi-subterranean houses in the future and will remove all existing buildings, but it seems necessary to establish a specific manual for households vulnerable to disasters.



(Video editing: Jeon Min-gyu, CG: Seo Dong-min·Lim Chan-hyuk)