Hundreds evacuated as blaze erupts in slum next to Seoul's posh Gangnam district

Seoul: About 500 people were evacuated on Friday after a fire broke out in one of the last remaining shantytowns in Seoul just before Lunar New Year, South Korea’s biggest holiday.

The fire erupted at 6:27am in Guryong Village in southern Seoul, which is located near the affluent Gangnam district and is home to more than 660 households, and was extinguished about five hours later.

At least 60 homes in the 1,700-square-metre (18,000-square-foot) area were destroyed, fire officials said, with about 600 firefighters, police officers and troops dispatched to contain the blaze. No deaths or injuries have been reported so far, Shin Yong-ho, administrative director at the Gangnam Fire Station, told the media.

The main fire was extinguished after emergency services deployed 53 fire engines and 10 helicopters, Shin said. People who had lost their homes would be accommodated temporarily in nearby hotels, according to the official.

President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is in Switzerland at the World Economic Forum, called for all-out efforts to minimise the damage and mobilise all available firefighters and equipment, his spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said.

Interior Minister Lee Sang-min also instructed officials to prevent secondary damage and protect residents in nearby areas, the ministry said.

Guryong Village has been struck by at least 16 blazes since 2009. One of the last remaining slums, the village is a symbol of inequality in Asia’s fourth-largest economy just next to the flashy, affluent district of Gangnam.

The area has also been prone to fires, floods and other disasters, with many homes built using cardboard and wood, and residents exposed to safety and health issues.

In 2014, one resident was killed in a fire, according to Yonhap News. Last March, 11 houses were burned down and part of the nearby forest was destroyed by a blaze that spread to a mountain in the area.

Some houses in Guryong Village are covered with wads of cotton and the interiors contain flammable materials such as vinyl, styrofoam, gas bottles and coal. The homes are also attached to each other, increasing the risk of fires quickly spreading.

The government had unveiled plans for redevelopment and relocation after the huge fire in late 2014, but those efforts have made little progress amid a decades-long tug of war between landowners, residents and authorities. The area was created in the 1980s, when residents were forced to move out of their homes as the city carried out development projects, according to local media.

Seoul, Gangnam district and state-run developers have been at odds over how to compensate the owners of the properties and whether the residents, most of whom were living there illegally, are entitled to government support for relocation and housing.

The Seoul city government said Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited the village and asked officials to draw up measures to relocate families affected by the fire.

SOURCE: REUTERS