Death in the basement

South Korea saw at least 11 deaths in  the basement over the last 30 days. September 8, 2022.

By Foong Pek Yee
Seven people  including a teenager died in a basement carpark submerged in flood water when Typhoon Hinnamnor hit South Korea,  bringing along heavy rain on Tuesday (Sept 6,  2022)
According to The Korean Herald,  the teenager had accompanied his mother to the carpark.
His mother, in her early 50s, is one of the  two people who survived  when they were rescued from the flooded carpark.
The tragedy took place in an apartment block in Pohang, about 270km south-east of Seoul when  Typhoon Hinnamnor hit  South Korea, reports The Korean Herald on September 7.
It says rescuers pulled out nine people from the flooded carpark – two alive while seven others who were rescued in a state of cardiac arrest were pronounced dead later.
According to The Korean Herald the nine had gone to the basement carpark to move their cars amid heavy downpour brought on by the super typhoon.
As of  Sept 7, the Central Disaster Safety Relief Headquarters says Typhoon Hinnamnor saw 11 dead, one missing and three injured.
Meanwhile, the big flood in  Seoul on August 8  saw four people,  including a family of three in Sillim-dong, perished  in their  semi-basement  home or banjiha in Korean.
Another person was also found dead in a flooded banjiha in the neighbourhood on the same day.
About 95% of South Korea’s 379,605 basement or semi-basement homes can be found in Seoul, reports The Korean Herald quoting Statistics.
In the wake of the  tragedies, Seoul announced that it would phase out all forms of underground residences – home to about five percent of all families in the city-  in the next two decades.

 

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