A massive fire broke out in one of the remaining slums in the South Korean capital on Friday, forcing 500 people to evacuate their homes ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, authorities said.
Video posted online showed flames tearing through the village of Guryong, a shantytown in the shadow of high-rise luxury towers in Seoul’s Gangnam district, made famous by rapper Psy’s global hit “Gangnam Style”.
The fire, which started around 6:30 a.m., was expected to burn about 60 homes, but was extinguished by noon, according to authorities.
There were no casualties
No casualties have been reported and the cause of the fire is still unknown, he said.
“We are thinking of conducting additional investigations into the case,” Choi Jae-young, an official from the Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Central Office, told AFP.
Also read: Halloween mass surge in South Korea: What we know
Residents said they were not surprised by the fire.
“There are a lot of safety concerns in the community when it comes to fire, and it seems like they have never been properly acknowledged” by the authority, Lee Woon-chul, 65, who has lived in the village for 30 years, told AFP.
|
“The houses are very old, and the electric cables are dangerous and not managed well. Sparks inside the house are common,” he said.
Since 2012, the village has been hit by at least eight fires, Seoul’s Gangnam district office, the local authority that oversees the area, told AFP.
The settlement was formed around 1988 by squatters evicted from other parts of Seoul in the country’s push to develop the capital ahead of hosting the Olympics.
There were about 550 households left in Guryong last year, according to data from the state-run Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation, with many believed to be living with little or no sanitation.
The village is a far cry from the opulent and opulent world of Gangnam – an upscale district known for its boutiques and luxury apartments.
South Korea’s social gap
South Korea is trying to address social inequality, and last year moved to ban the cramped basement apartments made famous by the Oscar-winning movie “Parasite” after four people drowned in their underground home during a flood.
Also Read: South Korean police blame Halloween killings on negligence
“There have been many fires in the past, but this is the first time a house has caught fire,” Lee told AFP.
“I am not sure that the people who lost their homes will be allowed to rebuild, because the buildings are unlicensed shacks.”
|