Geoje area is 70% mountainous and has many landfills, making it vulnerable to flooding... Flood damage ‘recurs’ every year
The Tongyeong Island area, where heavy equipment is deployed late, takes a long time to recover... “Basic measures are needed”
[※ Editor's note = Geoje and Tongyeong in Gyeongsangnam-do were thrown into chaos due to record-breaking heavy rain during the Liberation Day holiday. Residents of Sumae lost their homes, and facilities symbolizing the region also suffered extensive damage. The two areas have been declared special disaster areas, but residents predict that it will still take time for full recovery. In celebration of the month of extreme heavy rain, Yonhap News is publishing three articles looking back at the damage to Geoje and Tongyeong and examining disaster response measures.]
(Geoje·Tongyeong = Yonhap News) Reporters Jeong Jong-ho and Park Young-min = Heavy rain exceeding 900 mm and 700 mm, respectively, fell on Geoje and Tongyeong in South Gyeongsang Province during the Liberation Day holiday, causing damage worth tens of billions of won.
The damage was bound to be significant because it rained heavily in a short period of time, but some also point out that the region's vulnerability to heavy rains was prominent.
In particular, in Geoje, where there are many mountains and landfills, damage occurred in various places such as houses, shops, and roads, and in the Tongyeong Island area, which is far from the mainland and requires people and equipment to travel by boat, recovery from flood damage is still slow.
◇ Geoje is 70% mountainous and has many landfills… Flood damage ‘recurs’ every year
According to the National Statistics Portal on the 16th, the total area of Geoje City as of 2020 is about 403㎢, of which the forest area is about 283㎢, or about 70%.
Since there is not much land for housing on an island with many mountains, apartments are often built around slopes such as mountains or cut sites cut into the mountains.
The problem is that many of these apartments are built near mountains or cut sites, so there is a high risk of soil spills or landslides.
The apartment complex in Okpo-dong, Geoje-si, where an accident occurred on the 17th of last month with heavy rain and soil soaked in water, killing one person and injuring two, was located right next to the slope of the incision site.
In September 2020, over 180 mm of rain fell over two days, causing hundreds of tons of soil to cover the cut-out area around the apartment complex in Mundong-dong, Geoje-si, forcing about 90 residents to evacuate.
Damage to roads carved out of mountains repeats every year.
At the time of the heavy rain damage, vehicular traffic was restricted for a while as silt flowed down from the rain on major roads in the Geoje area near the slopes.
In July 2023, a landslide occurred on a mountain near the Ocean Blue Geoje Rest Area in Yulcheon-ri, Jangmok-myeon, Geoje-si, and soil and trees covered the road.
There are also indications that landfills, which are known to be vulnerable to flooding, have further increased rain damage.
The areas around the commercial district and bus terminal in Gohyeon-dong, Geoje, which were submerged in water due to this heavy rain, used to be the sea, but are land created through a reclamation project in the 1980s.
According to the city, from 1980 to this year, the landfill in the Geoje area is known to be more than 3.35 million ㎡. There may be some missing records, so it is estimated that the actual number of landfills is greater than this.
In addition, there are claims that the flood damage has increased due to the difference in height between the landfill recently created by filling in the sea and the existing landfill nearby.
Former Geoje City Councilor Kwon Soon-ok, who previously served as president of the Geoje Marine Tourism Development Corporation, explained, "The current damaged area is a primary landfill site, but in the process of creating a secondary landfill site on the sea side, the water flow changed as the existing island-shaped topography was connected to the land, and the existing area became relatively low, creating a structure where water accumulates. Sufficient drainage measures such as a water barrier or a large-capacity drainage pump should have been prepared."
He then emphasized, “In particular, the existing urban area from the vicinity of Geoje Fishery to the passenger terminal area is relatively caved in, so when heavy rain falls, water is bound to accumulate.”
◇ Tongyeong Island, which is separated from the mainland and difficult to recover despite flood damage… There are about 40 inhabited islands alone.
Tongyeong, which has about 40 inhabited islands, has long-lasting scars from flood damage.
In particular, it takes a long time to recover in island areas that are far from the mainland and cannot receive adequate equipment when floods occur.
Since many of the residents are elderly, it is bound to be even slower.
With the help of volunteers and local governments, emergency recovery has been completed in the heavily damaged islands of Hansan Island and Sanyang-eup, but private facilities must be restored by residents themselves.
Gonrido Island, located about 10 minutes away by sea from Dangpo Port in Sanyang-eup, Tongyeong, suffered significant damage, including a burial accident due to silt settling due to heavy rain.
However, because it is an island, even if you try to deploy heavy equipment, you have to use a roadway, which takes more time and costs than on land.
For this reason, heavy equipment was brought to the island only 5 to 7 days after the flood occurred.
It is known that restoration work is still in progress here, and residents who have suffered damage are taking shelter.
Emergency recovery here too was recently completed, but no specific plan for complete recovery, including slope or drainage construction led by residents, has been established.
As the return to daily life comes to a standstill, island residents say that fundamental measures must be taken.
Cheon Mun-seop, head of Gonrido Island (58), said, “The start of recovery in the island area itself was late,” and added, “As the island is a residential area where residents live, we need a system that can deploy equipment and manpower at a similar time as on the mainland.”
◇ Local council “We need to prepare fundamental measures such as flood risk management”
As extreme heavy rain caused extensive damage, local councils recently called for fundamental measures to be taken.
At the second plenary session of the 265th extraordinary session of the Geoje City Council on the 9th, Kim Dong-soo, a member of the People Power Party of Geoje City Council, called for conducting a comprehensive survey of key facilities and flood prevention facilities in apartment complexes to systematically manage the risk of flooding for each apartment complex, and to expand support for the installation of flood prevention facilities.
It was also suggested that flood safety should be strengthened from the development and construction stage of apartment complexes.
Jeong Gwang-ho, a member of the Democratic Party of Tongyeong City Council, also recently emphasized at the 1st regular meeting of the 247th City Council, "We must inspect all landslide-prone areas, including Mireukdo and Hansando, designate the installation of embankment dams, conservation of moorings, and cultivating forests to prevent landslides as municipal priorities, and significantly expand the budget."
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