Man-made Environmental Disaster
By Shim Hyun-chul
Staff Reporter
The clean sea off Taean, South Chungcheong Province has been turned into a ``sea of oil,'' which simply makes it impossible to believe that it served as a home for sea creatures and a reservoir for sea farming and fishing just a week ago.
One of the world's most devastating sea pollution cases involving oil has emerged to directly affect not only the environment but also human health, causing illnesses such as laryngitis and bronchitis.
Thousands of soldiers, police, officials and volunteers have been struggling to clean up the polluted area, however they it is still far from recovery. A total of 10,500 tons of oil was spilt and only 10 percent has been cleaned up.
But amid the chaos, a large number of volunteers rushed to the scene to help and the number has increased each day. They believe this may create a slow yet diligent miracle.
Experts say full recovery of the marine ecological system will take at least 12 years.