Incheon becomes refugee camp

Significant property damage inflicted on Yeonpyeong residents

By Lee Hyo-sik, Park Si-soo

The western port city of Incheon turned into a “refugee camp” Wednesday as Yeonpyeong Island residents fled their homes and escaped inland, desperately seeking attack-free shelter.

Incheon is the nearest city on mainland Korea to the island bombarded Tuesday by North Korea. It takes four hours to get to Incheon from Yeonpyeong by ferry.

On Wednesday alone, nearly 400 Yeonpyeong citizens arrived at Incheon on specially-assigned warships and patrol boats. And hundreds of others are expected to land at the port using the Navy’s two hovercrafts.

The government has grounded all civilian boats and small planes whose travel routes skirt the island for fear of the North’s additional provocations.

“The top priority of the evacuation is Yeonpyeong residents, discharged soldiers and the family members of career soldiers on the island,” said a Navy spokesman.

Incheon City has designated a large-scale spa capable of accommodating about 200 people as a temporary residence for those escaping from the bombarded island. The local government is looking for other facilities to accommodate the remaining evacuees.

Early evacuators stayed either at lodgings near the port or houses of their relatives or friends.

The city has designed four primary and secondary schools to help school-aged evacuators continue their schooling.

The military is gearing up aid supply to the devastated island. Hundreds of citizens were still hiding in 19 shoddy air-raid shelters where neither power nor heat was available. The military expects it will take one or two more days to completely remove citizens to out-of-range areas.

Eleven medics and 340 packages of first aid kits were sent to Yeonpyeong Wednesday along with 20 engineers whose mission is to restore the crippled telecommunication and power-generating facilities. Seven fire engines, pickup trucks and other construction equipment will be dispatched soon.

Property damage severe

North Korea’s firing of artillery shells on Yeongpyeong caused severe property damage to the island community, as illustrated by photos of the devastated houses and buildings in the otherwise peaceful fishing island.

The artillery attack caused multiple wildfires on the mountain and burned scores of houses to the ground, while knocking out the electricity supply and cellular phone transmission towers.

With several wildfires continuing to rage on, due to a lack of fire-extinguishing equipment and personnel, more homes and other properties will likely be destroyed, inflicting significant monetary damage on the residents.

Firefighters and residents battled a wildfire caused by the North’s attack Tuesday, which burned substantial portions of the hills and farmlands on the island. But they were not able to contain the fire entirely because of a shortage of equipment and manpower.

A dozen homes were also unable to be saved, with some 1,700 island residents scrambling to either take shelter in an underground bunker or flee to the mainland.

The artillery attack left nearly 70 percent of the forests and fields on the rural island charred, according to Incheon Metropolitan City. The city has dispatched some 20 fire trucks and 80 firefighters to the island to contain the fire since the attack began.

To help Yeongpyeong residents restore their livelihood, the government plans to provide 1 billion won ($870,000) in emergency funds. They will also be given tax breaks when purchasing homes, cars, boats and other items to replace those destroyed by the shelling.

The Ministry of Administration and Public Safety said Wednesday that it will offer emergency funds to finance restoration and more financial aid will be set aside for the victims when the extent of the property damage is accurately assessed.

A ministry official said Yeongpyeong Island is virtually in a state of war after being attacked.

Under the law, the government is obliged to offer financial aid when public safety is compromised by an enemy attack or natural disaster.

난민촌으로 변한 인천

피난 온 연평도 주민이 인천에 집결함에 따라 인천이 “난민캠프”로 변하고 있다. 인천은 대한민국 본토에서 연평도와 가장 가까운 도시로서 뱃길로 4시간 거리에 있다.

수요일 하루에만 400명 이상의 연평도 주민이 해군이 제공한 배를 타고 인천으로 왔다. 현재 민간인 배의 연평도를 비롯한 서해5도 주변으로의 항해가 금지되어있다.

해군 관계자는 연평도 주민과 전역장병 그리고 군인가족을 대피시키는데 총력을 다하고 있다고 말했다.

인천시는 200여명을 수용할 수 있는 찜질방을 임대하여 임시도 피난민들의 거처로 사용하게 하고 있다. 피난민의 숫자가 증가함에 따라 인천시는 다른 장소를 물색하고 있다.

사건발생 후 바로 인천으로 피난 온 사람들은 자신의 가족, 친척 또는 친구의 집에서 숙식을 하고 있다.