For wildfire evacuees, returning home may be a long, difficult path
Published: 01 Apr. 2025, 14:41
Updated: 01 Apr. 2025, 15:13
![Wildfire victims and their families check the damage in a village in Andong, North Gyeongsang, on March 29. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/04/01/ddd0fd20-423e-46cf-a93b-6c45430d9b4e.jpg)
Wildfire victims and their families check the damage in a village in Andong, North Gyeongsang, on March 29. [YONHAP]
Around 20 people whose houses were destroyed in the devastating wildfire were lodging at the Korean Institute of Seonbi Culture in Sancheong County, South Gyeongsang, on Monday.
Although forestry authorities had declared the primary fire of the Sancheong-Hadong wildfire extinguished the previous day, the site still served as a temporary makeshift shelter for displaced residents unable to return home.
Among the 332 people evacuated due to the Sancheong wildfire, 24 residents from the heavily affected villages of Jungtae, Oegong, and Jayang still lived in evacuation. They had lost their homes to the fire. Many of them are in their 60s and 70s.
One of them is an 82-year-old resident of Jungtae Village, surnamed Jeong. His single-story home, a 67-square-meter (721-square-feet) building with a steel frame and slab roof, saw its metal structure warped and its roof collapsed in the blaze.
“In the 1950s, I lived in a thatched-roof house,” said Jeong. “In the 1960s, during the Saemaul Movement, it became a slate house. In the 1990s, it became a tin house. In 2013, I replaced it with a 67-square-meter slab house, but the land remained the same.”
“Except for my 32 months of military service, I’ve lived there all my life,” he said. “The military needs to clear the burned remains quickly so that I can set up a tent or container there, and once bracken sprouts in the fields, I can make a living off that.”
![A factory building and materials in the Namhu Agricultural and Industrial Complex in Andong, North Gyeongsang, are seen after being burned by wildfires on March 31. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/04/01/33039ee9-c78d-441c-bf9b-bbce43974d3e.jpg)
A factory building and materials in the Namhu Agricultural and Industrial Complex in Andong, North Gyeongsang, are seen after being burned by wildfires on March 31. [YONHAP]
While the primary fire that swept through the Yeongnam region has been contained, many evacuees have yet to return home. As of 6 a.m. on Monday, 3,171 people remained in shelters nationwide, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. North Gyeongsang accounted for the majority with 3,112 people. Many of them, like Jeong, are elderly.
A total of 3,717 homes were destroyed in the fire. Since Mar. 21, nearly 40,000 people were evacuated during simultaneous wildfires in Sancheong and Hadong in South Gyeongsang, Uiseong, Andong, Cheongsong, Yeongyang and Yeongdeok in North Gyeongsang, and Ulju in Ulsan.
In response, the central and local governments first plan to build and provide temporary modular homes. They also intend to support home reconstruction costs.
![A factory building and materials in the Namhu Agricultural and Industrial Complex in Andong, North Gyeongsang, are seen unrecognizable after being burned by wildfires on March 31. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/04/01/844c2829-79bf-43d0-8d25-6180ee32deff.jpg)
A factory building and materials in the Namhu Agricultural and Industrial Complex in Andong, North Gyeongsang, are seen unrecognizable after being burned by wildfires on March 31. [YONHAP]
Under current laws, homes that are categorized as "total losses" or "partial losses" — meaning they are uninhabitable without rebuilding or significant repairs — qualify for support ranging from 20 million to 36 million won ($13,600 to $24,500) for total losses and 10 million to 18 million won for partial losses, depending on the home size.
Disaster recovery loans with an interest rate of 1.5 percent will also be available for up to 136 million won. In total loss cases, displaced residents may secure 150 million to 170 million won in funding.
Still, returning to a home like before is not easy. Government support alone is insufficient. Even nearly two years after the wildfire in Gangneung, Gangwon, which broke out on Apr. 11, 2023, many evacuees still live in modular homes. That fire damaged 204 houses, and 147 households applied for temporary modular homes. Such homes remain a common sight in affected neighborhoods like Anhyeon-dong and Jeo-dong in Gangneung.
![A factory building and materials in the Namhu Agricultural and Industrial Complex in Andong, North Gyeongsang, are seen after being burned by wildfires on March 31. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/04/01/1ac85558-8108-4922-8c8a-077cb751505d.jpg)
A factory building and materials in the Namhu Agricultural and Industrial Complex in Andong, North Gyeongsang, are seen after being burned by wildfires on March 31. [YONHAP]
Choi, a 45-year-old woman who used to live in a 191-square-meter, two-story country house, now resides with her two elementary school-aged children in two temporary modular units totaling 23.1 square meters.
“I already have a mortgage, and with construction costs rising, the compensation isn’t enough to rebuild,” said Choi. “Reconstructing the original house would cost 1 billion won. I don’t know how long we’ll have to live like this.”
“It’s practically impossible to rebuild homes with disaster aid and donations alone, so many have given up,” said Choi Yang-hun, head of the Gangneung Wildfire Emergency Countermeasure Committee. “We hope the government and local authorities develop stronger measures for this wildfire.”
![A man sees a destroyed garage in Uiseong County, North Gyeongsang, on March 27. His property was engulfed in a wildfire on March 26. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/04/01/ee42d905-2aa6-44c2-adff-b985de3758a1.jpg)
A man sees a destroyed garage in Uiseong County, North Gyeongsang, on March 27. His property was engulfed in a wildfire on March 26. [YONHAP]
There are growing concerns that if displaced residents give up rebuilding, rural depopulation will accelerate. Since many of the victims are elderly, there is a chance they will forgo repairs or rebuilding and instead pass on the land to their descendants.
“A significant number of evacuees are thinking of moving away after staying in temporary housing,” Lee Cheol-woo, governor of North Gyeongsang. The North Gyeongsang provincial government has urged the central government to enact special legislation for wildfire recovery.
“Victims are hesitant to rebuild their homes with the limited aid available,” Gov. Lee said in a wildfire response briefing on Sunday. “Even during the 2022 Uljin wildfire, many residents over 80 did not rebuild.
“There needs to be a system that provides actual homes in place of destroyed ones.”
BY AN DAE-HUN, KIM JUNG-SEOK, PARK JIN-HO [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)