Support Drops from June to August... "Urgent Need for Assistance"
On the 30th of last month, when the perceived temperature exceeded 33 degrees Celsius in the sweltering heat, briquettes were stacked throughout the alleys of Jeonwon Village in Bangbae-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, where most of the houses are vinyl greenhouses and shacks.
Yonhap News reported on the 4th that the poorly equipped Jeonwon Village uses briquettes even in midsummer. When it is hot and humid during the monsoon season, the flooring and wallpaper wrinkle and insects gather, so briquettes are used at this time.
Currently, there are 66 households in Jeonwon Village. They survive the year with briquettes received annually from the social welfare corporation Bapsang Community and the Briquette Bank. Most residents live solely on the basic pension of around 300,000 won, which is given to low-income elderly people.
The Briquette Bank regularly supports briquettes from September to March of the following year every year. However, this is still insufficient, and by around May, the residents of Jeonwon Village run out of briquettes and request additional support. In May, the Briquette Bank additionally provided 200 briquettes per household to this village.
The problem is that as time passes, abnormal weather conditions have increased the number of rainy days, making more briquettes necessary than before. Resident Choi Byeong-hak (88) told Yonhap News, "This year, there was a lot of rain at once and the monsoon lasted longer, so we used briquettes more frequently than last year," adding, "It seems to be two to three times more than before."
Another reason briquettes are needed is knee pain. If the floor is not warm, it aches and makes it difficult to sleep. Another resident, Eom Bok-nam (90), said, "In winter, we use eight briquettes a day, and in summer, four briquettes a day, but often it is not enough," adding, "We block the holes where wind comes in to make the briquettes burn slower and use them sparingly."
They need briquettes even to get through the summer, but because this fact is not widely known, briquette donations sharply decrease from April.
Looking at the monthly briquette donation amounts to the Briquette Bank last year, June had the lowest with 10,200 briquettes, followed by August (13,060 briquettes) and July (14,658 briquettes). The total annual briquette donations were 4,027,535 briquettes, averaging about 335,600 briquettes per month, and even combined, the three summer months (June to August) accounted for only 11% of the average monthly donations. The donations in June, July, and August were each less than one-hundredth of the highest donation month, December (1,686,151 briquettes).
As a result, residents have to make the briquettes they received in winter last through the summer, but many places have been experiencing shortages since early May.
Meanwhile, in regions where heatwave warnings have been issued, elderly people frequently collapse from heatstroke. According to the Gwangju Western Fire Station on the 4th, a report was received by 119 at 2:51 p.m. the previous day that an 80-year-old woman, A, collapsed from suspected heatstroke in a field near an apartment in Geumho-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju. At that time, A’s body temperature had risen to 42 degrees Celsius, and she was unconscious; ultimately, A passed away.
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