South Korea fires become larger ever recorded as the main disaster points of the “hard reality” of the climatic crisis | South Korea

Authority in South Korea They are fighting the fires that have doubled in a day in the worst disaster of the country’s fire.

At least 26 people died and hundreds of buildings destroyed in the south-eastern province of North Gyeongsang, with the head of the country’s disaster that affirmed that the fires had exposed the “hard reality” of global warming.

By indicating ultra-dry conditions and strong winds that have worsened the damage, Lee Han-Kyung, head of the disaster and safety division, said: “This fire has again exposed the harsh reality of a climatic crisis unlike anything we experienced before”.

The affected areas have seen only half of the average rainfall this season, while the country has experienced more than double the number of fires this year compared to last.

More than 36,000 hectares (88,960 acres) have been charred or were still burning the largest of the fires, which began in the Country County of the Central Uiseong, making it the largest forest fire in the history of South Korea. About 37,000 people were displaced, said the Yonhap news agency.

“We are nationally in a critical situation with numerous victims due to the rapidly previous diffusion of forest fires,” said the president to Interim, Han Duck-Soco, a government response meeting, adding that the high number of older victims, including those in nursing hospitals, was a particular concern.

The army has released fuel fuel actions to help keep the fire -fighting helicopters flying towards the flames in difficulty through the mountain regions of the province, where the fires have been burning for almost a week. More than 300 structures had been destroyed, the officials said.

Starting from Thursday morning, the authorities were mobilizing more than 9,000 people and about 120 helicopters to fight fires, said the response center to government catastrophes.

The head of the country’s disaster stated that the fires were now “the largest ever recorded”, having burned more forests than any previous blazes. The last large fire, in April 2020, burned 23,913 hectares through the eastern coast.

“The fire is spreading quickly,” said Lee. “The forest damage has reached 35,810 hectares, already exceeding the area affected by the fire of the eastern coast of 2000, previously the largest ever recorded, of over 10,000 hectares.”

The dead include a pilot whose helicopter crashed during the efforts to contain a fire and four firefighters and other workers who died after being trapped by rapid movement flames led by strong winds.

The authorities have not revealed the details of the civilian dead, except for the fact that they are mainly in their 60s and 70s. They suspect that human error caused many of the fires that began last Friday, including cases in which people began to free the grass invaded by family tombs or with sparks during welding work.

Last year the hottest year of South Korea was recorded, with the meteorological administration of Korea which affirmed that the average annual temperature was 14.5 ° C-two degrees higher than the average of 30 previous years of 12.5 ° C.

Yeh Sang-Wook, professor of Climatology at the University of Hanyang in Seoul, said that the lack of rainfall has dried the earth “creating favorable conditions for fires”.

“This can be seen as one of the fundamental causes,” he said. “We cannot say that it is due only to climate change, but climate change is directly (e) indirectly affects the changes we are experiencing now. This is a simple fact.”

The blazes were threatening two UNESCO World Heritage sites – Hahoe Village and The Byeongsan Confucian Academy – A Wednesday’s Andong City, said a city official, while the authorities sprayed fire delaying to try to protect them.

Andong and the close counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, as well as the city of Ulsan, have been more affected. On Wednesday evening, strong winds and skies full of smoke forced the authorities to Andong, in the south-east, to order evacuations in two villages, including Puncheon, the seat of the Hhoe Folk Village, founded around the XII-XII century. A hikers were advised to leave the overview of Monte Jiri while another fire approached.

The fires originated from Uiseong and quickly moved to the east, spreading almost on the coast, transported by refined winds and with dry conditions that aggravate the situation.

The meteorological agency has provided some rain for the south-west, but rainfall should be lower than 5 mm for most of the affected areas.

“The amount of rain will be small, so it does not seem to be of great help in an attempt to extinguish the fire,” said the Minister of the Korea Forestry Service, Lim Sang-Seop.

The officials declared at the beginning of this week that the firefighters had extinct most of the flames from the largest fires in the key areas, but the wind and dry conditions allowed them to spread again.

Houses, factories, vehicles and some historical structures have been destroyed in fires. In Uiseong, about 20 of the 30 structures in the complex of the temple of Gooda – which was said to be originally built in the seventh century – were burned. Among these were two “treasures” designated by the state: a building in the shape of a erect pavilion overlooking a flow in 1668 and a Joseon dynasty structure built in 1904 to mark the longevity of a king.

The experts said that Uiseong’s fire showed an extremely unusual diffusion in terms of scale and speed and that climate change should make fires more frequent and fatal globally.

Higher temperatures amplified by man’s climate change have contributed to the seasonally dry conditions existing, “transforming dry landscapes into dangerous fire fuel” in the region, said the central group of climate, an independent body made up of scientists and researchers.

With Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse