All burial sites to be inspected over FMD contamination

By Kim Tae-jong

Hundreds of eagles were seen flying over the burial sites of pigs and cows as the stench of the dead animal corpses filled the air. Residents living near such burial sites where the herds were buried to stem the spread of foot-and mouth-disease saw their tap water sometimes flow mixed with blood and smelling putrid.

These are some of the recent reports from the epidemic-hit villages, which raise concerns about a catastrophic environmental aftermath — massive contamination of soil and water.

To rectify the situation, the government has vowed to conduct an inspection of all the 4,500 burial sites across the nation and “repair” them, if necessary.

“Remedial action will be taken for sites where animals have not properly been buried,” Farm Minister Yoo Jeong-bok said Friday in a radio interview, adding inspections will be conducted on all burial sites by the end of February.

The remark came as a government investigation team conducted its first on-site inspection of 83 sampled burial sites in Gyeonggi, Gangwon and North Chungcheong Provinces near the Han River between Feb. 10 and 14 and concluded that 27 sites were at risk of causing contamination to the soil and water in the region.

The team, consisting of officials of the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, warned most of the inspected sites were also vulnerable to collapse amid the thawing temperatures due to hasty and shoddy burial procedures.

The government will put 1.4 billion won ($1.2 million) into repairing and removing the burial sites that violated the necessary quarantine rules. In principle, animals were to be buried in a 4-5 meter-deep hole covered by two-fold vinyl to prevent anything from leaking and such burial sites should be far from underground water to avoid contamination.

But such regulations were frequently violated to stop the speedy spread of the disease, outpacing the authorities’ slaughter capacity. Consequently animals were buried in mountain slopes and areas near streams or water reservoirs.

The farm minister said the outbreak of the disease is expected to be under control by early March as nationwide vaccination efforts take effect.

“Since the second round of vaccinations that further raise resistance to the disease expect to be completed by the end of this month, outbreaks should be contained soon, although there may be some isolated cases,” Yoo said.

There may be a need to continue giving shots to livestock for two to three more years to completely wipe out the FMD virus, he added.