South Korean Wildfires Have Exposed Harsh Reality Of Climate Crisis​ & Global Warming

PICTURE COURTESY : anadolu ajnasi

South Korea’s wildfires have become the biggest on record. The wild fires doubled in size in a day in the worst ever natural fire disaster. Officials point to ultra-dry conditions as death toll reaches 27 and fires threaten Unesco heritage sites. Hundreds of buildings destroyed in the south-eastern province of North Gyeongsang.

The South Korean wildfires have once again exposed the harsh reality of a climate crisis in a warming world.
More than 36,000 hectares (88,960 acres) have been charred or were still burning in the largest of the fires, which began in the central Uiseong county, making it the biggest single forest fire in South Korea’s history. About 37,000 people have been displaced, the Yonhap news agency said.

“We are nationally in a critical situation with numerous casualties because of the unprecedented rapid spread of forest fires,” the acting president, Han Duck-soo, told a government response meeting, adding that the high number of older victims, including those in nursing hospitals, was a particular concern.

The military has released stocks of aviation fuel to help keep firefighting helicopters flying to douse flames across mountainous regions in the province, where fires have been burning now for nearly a week. More than 300 structures had been destroyed, officials said.

The country’s disaster chief said the wildfires were now “the largest on record”, having burned more forest than any previous blazes. The last major wildfire, in April 2020, scorched 23,913 hectares across the east coast.

The writer of this article is Dr. Seema Javed, an environmentalist & a communications professional in the field of climate and energy