[Exclusive] Sancheong County: 77-Year-Old Farmer Suffers Flood Damage ... Only Tears, No Administrative Support

Farmer A Attempted to Restore the Damage Alone
Collapsed and Was Rushed to the Hospital
Faced Another Setback Due to Administrative Barriers

Farmer A (77), who cultivates persimmons in Anbong-ri, Sinan-myeon, Sancheong County, Gyeongnam Province, is expressing frustration after being excluded from disaster relief support simply because he missed the application period despite suffering flood damage.

This farm suffered severe flood damage during last year's heavy rains, with the farm's drainage ditch being washed away and water channels collapsing.

In particular, the internal drainage system of the persimmon farm collapsed, making land restoration urgent. However, immediately after the damage, the farmer attempted to carry out the repairs himself but collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital.

The damage site of farmer A's orchard.

The farmer underwent surgery and received long-term inpatient treatment at the hospital. Even after being discharged, he reportedly had difficulty moving normally.

According to his family, he was an elderly farmer working alone, and due to his hospitalization, he was unable to report the flood damage at all.

Later, the family tried to submit a flood damage application to Sancheong County, but the county maintained its stance, stating, "Flood damage must be reported within the designated period, and applications after the deadline are not accepted."

Meanwhile, an official in charge of disaster response told this newspaper, "In principle, the application period for damage claims has ended, but if the damage is clear and there are unavoidable circumstances, we will accept the application, review it internally, and decide whether to process it."

Upon inspection, it was found that the drainage ditch inside the persimmon farm had been washed away and was no longer functional, and the internal water channels remained unrepaired, raising concerns about further damage. However, due to administrative procedures citing the 'expired application period,' no damage assessment has even been conducted.

The family stated, "It is frustrating enough that the farm was destroyed by the flood, but while he was hospitalized after collapsing during the restoration, the administration provided no help at all. We want to ask whether holding a hospitalized farmer to a paperwork deadline in a disaster situation is truly responsible governance."

Some have pointed out that this case is a typical example of a "disaster blind spot," highlighting just how vulnerable elderly and single-person farms are in disaster response.

In reality, there are virtually no functioning exceptions or official investigation systems for cases where reporting is impossible due to health deterioration or accidents at the time of the damage.

While disasters occur without warning, criticism is mounting that the administration remains focused only on 'deadlines' and 'procedures.' Attention is now focused on whether Sancheong County is willing to conduct an on-site investigation and come up with relief measures.