Koreans sleepless in tropical nights
A child cools down in a fountain at Gwanghwamun Square, Monday, amid a continuing heat wave that is blanketing the nation. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Lee Suh-yoon
Koreans are losing sleep amid a continuing heat wave, which led Seoul to see its hottest-ever night, the country's weather agency said Thursday.
The lowest temperature in Seoul between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning was 30.3 degrees Celsius, the highest since the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) first began collecting data in 1907.
Such tropical nights are preventing people from getting a good night's sleep.
“I keep getting up in the middle of the night to turn the air conditioner on and off,” Shanti Chang, 20, a university student who lives alone in a small flat in Seoul, told The Korea Times, Thursday. “I can't just leave it on because I don't want my electricity bills to be too high, but the room heats up again quickly when I turn the air conditioner off, making me wake up.”
The record-breaking heat wave has gripped the nation for the past three weeks, with no signs of abating. On Wednesday, Korea recorded 41 degrees Celsius in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, scrapping the previous record of 40 degrees set in Daegu in August 1942.
People have turned to increased air-conditioning to cope with the heat, leading to a sudden spike in electricity use, and multiple blackouts at apartment complexes nationwide.
The latest blackout occurred Wednesday night at Eunma Apartment Complex in Gangnam, Seoul, where some 2,000 households were left without electricity for over an hour-and-a-half.
According to the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), over 90 apartment building blackouts took place in July, more than double that of last year.
Even those with a functioning air conditioning system cannot afford the hefty electricity bills that result from leaving air conditioners on overnight.
Some, on the other hand, do not have air-conditioning to start with. Over 80 percent of some 1.5 million “energy poor” households – low-income households whose energy bills take up over 10 percent of their total income – do not own an air conditioner, according to a recent survey by civic groups.
Amid such high nighttime temperatures, government organizations such as the Financial Services Commission (FSC) are discouraging employees from working overtime in the evening to prevent heat-related health hazards.
The FSC is located in the Seoul Government Complex, which turns off its air conditioning system at 6 p.m. As such, FSC Chairman Choi Jong-ku recently issued a special order forbidding employees from working overtime at night for the next three weeks.
As of Wednesday, 29 people have died of heatstroke and 2,400 have been treated for heat-related illnesses since mid-May, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon also issued an emergency order Wednesday that called on government institutions and firms to temporarily halt daytime construction work.