Family Stranded By Landslide Reunites

Kim Nam-sung, the father of these two girls from Gangwon Province, called out his daughters’ names when he saw them. The two daughters, 11 and 10 years old respectively, cried when they jumped into their fathers arms. Kim’s family talked about what happened during the last four days when they were unable to be with each other.

A landslide occurred in Dosari town after Kim sent his two girls to school on July 15. Because of the heavy rainfall and the landslide, five houses collapsed and 12 houses were submerged. Worse yet, the landslide blocked ten kilometers of the only road to Dosari, and 200 people from 57 households were completely isolated. When the water began to fill in, the people fled to houses located on higher ground. However, the Kims, the Kos, and another Kims were more concerned about their children who went to school that morning.

First, the electricity shut off, and then cell phones went out of service. The landline phones stopped functioning after a while, leaving the parents without means to reach their children. Six children who live in the town were unable to come back home from school. Since the school bus could not reach the town due to the blocked road, it left them somewhere nearby. The residents of the neighboring town took care of the children. However, the children had to spend some nail-biting time, unable to know what had happened to their parents.

The people of Dosari supported each other during the desperate situation. The young made sure that the elderly who live in the lower area were all safe by taking them to shelters. Also, men took turns at night watching because of another possible landslide.

Kim Nam-geun, 54, said, “I heard some loud noise during the night. I was so frightened because I didn’t know whether it was another landslide or just a thunderstorm. If it were not for my neighbors, I would have not survived for four days.”

When the people of Dosari ran out of rice and noodles, they ate unripened potatoes for their meals. There was no clean water to drink because they had used an electric pump to get drinking water. Therefore, they had to drink the rain and stand for four days.

On July 18, the rain started to subside. The residents of Dosari filled the potato sacks with sand and built a temporary road and bank. The local office provided the residents with an excavator. At about 6:00 p.m., all of the residents were able to escape from the ruined village.

Mi-rae and Mi-so asked their father, “What are we going to do if another landslide happens?” when heading back to their house. Holding their hands, Kim said, “Dad will be there to protect you.”

Currently, in Gangwon Province, as many as 1,082 people are still in isolation in 10 towns of three counties, including 620 from five towns in Pyeongchang County, 431 people from three towns in Inje, and 31 people from two towns in Jeongseon.

Meanwhile, the Yongpyeong ski resort in Pyeongchang County, located near Dosari, was seriously damaged by the torrential rain. It is bad news for Pyeongchang, which was making a bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Yongpyeong resort will be where major games take place if Pyeongchang becomes the venue of the Olympic. But part of the main entrances to the resort is washed away, ski slopes are damaged here and there, and the lifts need reinforcement because of the weakened ground.

An official from the 2014 Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games Bid Committee said, “The IOC starts examination next February. I’m not sure if we will be able to repair this place within seven months”

The host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics will be announced next July 4 at the Guatemala meeting of the IOC.

Chang-Soon Choi dnsp@donga.com cschoi@donga.com