7 Drowned in Flooded Underground Car Park In South Korea

Go to the BM version of this article here. 

Last week, Typhoon Hinnamnor caused the worst flood in South Korea in 80 years, shutting down roads and subways which were submerged. The storm made landfall on Tuesday and within hours had caused several areas across the city and car parks to be underwater.

The Korea Meteorological Administration had issued weather advisories and raised its typhoon alert level on Monday, but the extreme weather still claimed numerous lives, including seven victims who were trapped in the underground car park of their apartment building in Pohang.

During the incident, the victims were attempting to remove their vehicles from the car park when the sudden and heavy deluge caused them to be trapped. Only two others survived by clinging onto the ceiling pipe for 12 horrendously long hours before being rescued.

Credit is to be given to the authorities in South Korea, who in response to recent deaths due to floods, have issued a new ruling banning low-cost basement flats (the type that you might have seen in Parasite). These banjiha-type accommodations are partially underground, cramp, have very little natural light and is vulnerable to flooding, during which the residents have no way to escape.

This is leaps better than what happens in Malaysia during some of our worst floods, which is a never-ending question (“We’ll investigate this matter” sounds familiar?) but never a solution arrived.