First a sweltering heat wave and then a typhoon alert forced the evacuation of all World Scout Day camps, as South Korea faces its biggest challenges in more than a century, chief says of the worldwide scouting movement.
About 43,000 people from all over the world joined the giant scouts’ jamboree at the end of July in Saemangeum, on the west coast of South Korea. The festival, held every four years, was to end on August 12.
“This is the first time in over 100 years of the World Scout Jamboree that we have faced such challenges,” Ahmad Alhendawi, secretary general of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, said in a statement.
The event was “very unlucky with the unprecedented heat wave and now the typhoon”, he added.
Adverse weather conditions “had a significant impact on the planning and staging of the 25th World Scout Jamboree”, he said, adding that despite the challenges, the Scouts had shown “genuine resilience, determination and entrepreneurship in the face of adversity”.
Typhoon Khanun, which killed at least two people in Japan, is expected to make landfall in South Korea on Thursday and pass near where the scouts were stationed.
Organizers had insisted the event would go ahead despite the conditions but on Monday confirmed that scouts would be evacuated and the campsite closed due to the approaching typhoon.
According to the scout organization, this is the first time since another typhoon hit Japan in 1971 that a camp has been evacuated due to bad weather.
In the maze of encampments in Buan on Tuesday, tens of thousands of scouts packed tents and bags before boarding buses bound for other accommodations in Seoul and the surrounding area.
Korean special forces were deployed to help with the evacuation, AFP journalists on the spot noted.
The government has announced to dispatch 1,000 buses for the transfer of scouts, mostly teenagers.
South Korea’s meteorological agency said Typhoon Khanun is expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds to the Korean Peninsula, predicting a top speed of 44 meters per second, strong enough to derail a moving train.
But the event, described as a “national disgrace” by the Korean media, quickly turned into a nightmare: thousands of participants, including 4,000 Britons and 1,500 Americans, had already left the rally prematurely at the end of last week due to extreme heat and failing organization.
According to local authorities and organizers, around 600 participants suffered from heat stroke or other ailments related to the scorching temperatures.
The scout leader acknowledged, in a post on LinkedIn, that they had “a bumpy start with (…) services and facilities”.
Local media reported poor drainage at the site, rudimentary showers and toilets.
But camp scouts told AFP they were sad to leave. “It’s really difficult but we had a good time.”
“It took some time to acclimatize to the circumstances but the youngsters had a great time,” Nicola Raunig, 27, an Austrian scout unit leader, told AFP, “I’m sad it’s over. NOW”.
“But we will make the most of it,” she added.
08/08/2023 05:48:47 – Buan (South Korea) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
