What we must learn from recent heavy rainfall

By Jang Daul

Record rainfall flooded homes, metro stations, and roads and submerged more than 10 thousand cars in Korea including its capital, Seoul, from Aug. 8 to 9.

A new hourly rainfall record of 141.5 millimeters was set in Seoul after 80 years. Also, the daily precipitation in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, recorded 381.5 millimeters which far exceeded the largest daily rainfall of 354.7 millimeters recorded in 1920.

Extreme rainfall is becoming more common all over the world due to human-caused climate change. This is because water molecules move around more rapidly when the temperature is warmer and therefore a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. This mostly accounts for why climate change causes more extreme rainfall.

The latest Sixth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2021 states that what would once have been a one-in-10-year rainfall event currently occurs 1.3 times more every decade and is 6.7 percent wetter. A 2-degrees-Celsius global warming will lead to 1.7 times more frequency in heavy rainfall every 10 years and will be 14 percent wetter.

Yoo Hee-dong, head of the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), said in a media interview that the recent heavy rainfall in Korea cannot be explained without the impact of climate change.

In 2021, the KMA published a report titled, "An Analysis Report for Climate Change over the Republic of Korea for 109 years (1912~2020 years)." The report said that the average annual temperature for the last 30 years (1991-2020) increased by 1.6 degrees Celsius compared to 1912 to 1940.
The report also analyzed that the number of days of precipitation has decreased, while the intensity of precipitation has increased. The KMA warned in the report that there have been noticeable increases in the frequency of extreme weather events and the acceleration of global warming will further increase the frequency and cause more damage.

Therefore, it is very likely that if we do not tackle the ongoing global climate change, we will bear the consequences of more frequent and severe extreme weather events. In other words, we, as a global community, need to build up a new socioeconomic system not dependent on the burning of fossil fuels ― mainly coal, oil and gas.

More importantly, we need to think about ways to increase climate justice by using the painful experience of the latest heavy rainfall as a lesson.

No one on this planet can be free from the impact of global warming. At the same time, however, global climate change will not affect everyone equally.

Those who are socially and economically disadvantaged, including the poor, the elderly, children, people with disabilities, rural populations, farmers, and outdoor workers will be affected more by extreme weather events.

These climate vulnerable people are usually less responsible for global climate change. This is the reason why we need to look at climate justice issues.

According to a report titled, "Climate Change and the Global Inequality of Carbon Emissions," by Lucas Chancel of World Inequality Lab, the richest top 10 percent of the global population is responsible for almost half of the global carbon dioxide emissions in 2019 and the top 1 percent emits 17 percent of the total, while the poorest bottom 50 percent are only responsible for 12 percent of the total.

The heavy rainfall in Korea this month killed 14 people. Out of the 14, four people were residents of "banjiha" or semi-basement flats in Seoul, two were foreign workers, and two were senior citizens. These victims could be considered more vulnerable to the climate crisis.

The banjiha apartment or villa in Seoul is typically located several steps below street level and therefore are very vulnerable to flooding.

As people might remember the house of a poor family in Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-winning 2019 movie, "Parasite," the banjiha apartments are usually the homes of low-income people.

The Aug. 8 flood victims included a drowned family of three ― a woman in her 40s with Down syndrome, her sister, and her 13-year-old daughter.

The tragic deaths prompted Korean society to consider whether it should continue to allow some people to live in the semi-basement flats. Consequently, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it would not allow underground and semi-basement homes anymore.

That is a step forward in addressing climate change. However, it is not enough. In August 2020, Greenpeace disclosed an analysis that without significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, in 2030, more than three million people would suffer, and 5,885 square kilometers will be flooded by an extreme flood which occurs once every 10 years.

Considering the scale of the projected extreme weather events, in addition to our climate mitigation efforts, we need to upgrade our national climate adaptation plan to protect people with a strong focus on the climate vulnerable groups.

In Korea, more than 200 civic organizations are now working together to organize a massive climate justice march in Seoul on Sept. 24 under the slogan: "Climate Disaster, We Can't Live Like This."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently said, "We have a choice: Collective action or collective suicide." Unless your choice is the latter, you are more than welcome to join the Sept. 24 climate justice march.

Jang Daul (daul.jang@greenpeace.org) is a government relations and advocacy specialist at Greenpeace East Asia Seoul office.