[News Today] Insufficient use of water barriers

[LEAD]
One of the most dangerous places during heavy downpours is underground spaces. We've seen lives lost time and again as floodwaters rush in. And yet, a simple safety measure, the water barricade, is still rarely used.

[REPORT]
Three years ago, in this underground parking garage in an apartment complex in Pohang, seven people lost their lives when the parking lot was flooded with rainwater.

It's almost impossible to go against the overpowering flood water and get aboveground.

Kim Gyeong-tae / Pohang Nambu Fire Station (Sept. 2022)
The apartment underground parking lot was flooded and people who went there to take their cars out cannot be reached.

These are barriers that keep water out of underground facilities.

A barricade is installed and a water tank is set up on the other side.

The water tank, seven meters wide and 50 centimeters tall, is filled with 1.7 tons of water.

But almost no water seeps through to the other side of the water barricade.

It's been proven that the barrier can keep water out.

Then, is it easy to install them?

Workers erect support beams and line up the plates before fixing them in place.

It took five minutes for three installation experts to set up the steel wall.

It would be more difficult to install the barriers during heavy rain or at night, but unfortunately, no such installation training is available.

Lee Young-gyu / Korea Fire Protection Assn.
I hope they train at least once, one or two days before the rainy season starts.

Only one out of ten apartments is equipped with these water barricades.

Only those apartments located in high-risk areas are mandated to install them, but such obligated buildings are largely in low-lying rural areas, leaving out most urban apartments.

Prof. Gong Ha-sung / Woosuk University
When generally people think the barriers are necessary, barricade installation should be made mandatory and related education, training continuously conducted.

Barrier installation at an ordinary underground parking lot would cost around ten million won or roughly 7,300 U.S. dollars.

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