Fire destroys 60 homes in Seoul

 A fire last Friday destroyed about 60 makeshift homes in a densely populated neighborhood , located very close to  some of the wealthiest streets of South Korea’s capital Seoul.

Evacuations of about 500 people were carried out after the fire began around 6:30 a.m. local time.

The homes in Seoul’s Guryong village  are housing residents who are extremely poor. The construction material is often  simple plywood and plastic, and fires in this dense encampment can spread very fast. 

The village has  been damaged by fire several times over the years. Already in March 2022, eleven houses were destroyed by a fire. Last August, floods forced around 100 people to evacuate. 

The fire on Friday spread very quickly, but was extinguished within five hours. No casualties or injuries were reported. More than 800 firefighters, police officers and public workers were involved in the incident.

Shin Yong-ho, an official at the fire department of Seoul’s Gangnam district, said to APNews.com that rescue workers  searched areas affected by the fire but all residents were believed to have safely evacuated.

South Korea was already coping with its worst disaster in almost a decade, after nearly 160 people died in a crowd incident at a Seoul nightlife district in October.

Photo Credit: (Above) Downtown Seoul, South Korea. Wikipedia Commons License.