S. Korea: Damaged areas from Gyeongsang wildfires 2.2 times larger than estimated
The areas damaged by the recent large-scale wildfires in the southeastern provinces of Gyeongsang have been provisionally tallied at 104,000 hectares, about 2.2 times larger than the previous estimate of 45,157 ha, the Korea Forest Service (KFS) said Friday, Yonhap reports.
The damaged areas included 90,289 ha in North Gyeongsang Province, 3,397 ha in South Gyeongsang Province and 1,190 ha in Ulsan, the KFS said. In the hardest-hit North Gyeongsang, Uiseong reported 28,853 ha, followed by Andong (26,709 ha), Cheongsong (20,655 ha) and Yeongdeok (16,208 ha), it noted.
The KFS explained that the difference between the provisional damage and previous estimates may have been caused by the difficulty in identifying the fire lines due to heavy smoke and strong winds.
The final damage area will be confirmed later by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, it added.
The wildfires, which broke out on March 21 in the county of Sancheong, South Gyeongsang Province, and the following day in Uiseong, have been recorded as South Korea's worst ever, resulting in 75 casualties, including 31 deaths.
As earlier reported, South Korea's government plans to provide 25 tln won in liquidity to help exporters amid global trade war.