Helicopters, boats in Korean flood rescue

Press, 24 July 1987, Page 6

Helicopters, boats in Korean flood rescue

NZPA-Reuter Seoul Military helicopters and motor boats yesterday went to the rescue of 300 South Korean villagers stranded by floods and landslides which have killed about 100 people and left 30 missing in the last two days, Government officials said.

The 300 spent the night on the rooftops of their flooded homes in the central province of Chungchong. They were the remnants of more than 1000 people who were marooned when the Kumgang river, which runs through Chungchong, burst its banks. More than 60cm of rain fell in the region on Wednesday, a record for South Korea.

Nearly 30 people were crushed to death when their houses collapsed.

Officials at the Government’s relief disaster centre said 95 people were confirmed dead and 32 were still missing, most of them from Chungchong. The toll was expected to rise because the centre had difficulty receiving

reports from flooded areas because of disrupted communications. The officials said 65,000 hectares of agricultural land was still under water.

About 6000 people who had to be evacuated from their villages along the lower reaches of the Kumgang river were still taking shelter at gymnasiums, schools and other Government buildings. South Korea is still recovering from last week’s battering by typhoon Thelma, which claimed 335 lives and made 15,000 homeless.

Weather men said rain would continue in many parts of the peninsula as typhoon Vernon, which was downgraded to a storm as it passed the China coast on Wednes-

day, veered through southern and eastern areas towards the Sea of Japan.

The disaster relief centre said it would mobilise 24,000 people to help search for survivors and repair destroyed dikes, railway lines, roads and disconnected communications networks.

Telephone lines were cut in many places, many electricity transmission devices were damaged and railway services linking Seoul and southern cities were suspended.

The Government has asked businessmen to allow workers time off to repair houses in the stricken areas, and has also decided to pay about SUS27OO ($NZ4536) to families of those confirmed killed.