Cracks and black mold cover the exterior of the Bongam row-house complex in Masanhoewon District, Changwon, South Gyeongsang, on Aug. 3.AN DAE-HUN
CHANGWON, South Gyeongsang — Residents of a 44-year-old housing complex in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, are enduring dangerously high indoor temperatures as they continue to live in buildingsso dilapidated that they are deemed at risk of collapse.
The Bongam row-house complex in Masanhoewon District consists of eight three-story buildings completed in 1982, according to the Changwon city government on Tuesday. Four buildings received a D safety rating and the remaining four an E rating during an emergency inspection last year. An E rating, the lowest facility safety grade, indicates serious defects that threaten structural safety and require the building to be taken out of use immediately.
Changwon consequently restricted occupancy of the D-rated buildings and prohibited use of the E-rated ones. The city issued evacuation orders to residents of the E-rated buildings in September under the country’s Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety.
Of the 107 people living in the complex when those restrictions were imposed, only 26 people had moved out by the end of July. Eighty-one people from 50 households remain in the complex, despite the risk of collapse.
Record-breaking temperatures have added to the hardship faced by residents of the deteriorating buildings, where cracked walls and aging window frames provide little insulation.
At 3 p.m. on Monday, while a heat wave warning was in effect, a thermometer placed in the living room of a third-floor unit measuring 59.5 square meters (640 square feet) read 35.5 degrees Celsius (95.9 degrees Fahrenheit). That was higher than the outdoor temperature of 34.4 degrees Celsius recorded in Changwon by the Korea Meteorological Administration at the same time.
A thermometer reads 35.5 degrees Celsius (95.9 degrees Fahrenheit) inside a third-floor unit at the Bongam row-house complex in Masanhoewon District, Changwon, South Gyeongsang, on Aug. 3.AN DAE-HUN
“Turning on the air conditioner doesn’t help,” said a man in his 50s who lives in the unit with his mother in her 80s. “Because the building is so old that we do not know when it might collapse, the top floor, which is heated by direct sunlight, effectively has no insulation,” he said. “Running the air conditioner in the living room all day does no good. We only use one in a small bedroom, but even then the heat doesn’t go away.”
Cracks covered parts of the unit’s interior walls, while hot outdoor air entered through gaps in the aging window frames, which cut the effectiveness of the air conditioning. Within 10 minutes of entering the home, sweat had already begun to bead across the reporter’s body.
Paint has peeled from the interiors and exteriors of the buildings after decades of deterioration, and many areas are covered in mold. Large cracks have formed across the walls, and damaged concrete in some units has exposed rusted reinforcing bars.
“When old buildings develop numerous cracks, and their window frames deteriorate, hot outdoor air enters through the gaps during the summer, in a process known as air infiltration,” said Hwang Seok-ho, a professor in the School of Architecture at Kyungnam University. “That inevitably reduces the building’s insulation performance.”
Damaged concrete exposes rusted reinforcing bars in the ceiling of a third-floor unit at the Bongam row-house complex in Masanhoewon District, Changwon, South Gyeongsang, on Aug. 3.AN DAE-HUN
“An indoor temperature of 35.5 degrees Celsius is like a steam bath,” said Han Seong-ho, a professor of family medicine at Dong-A University Hospital. “During a heat wave, it is appropriate to maintain an indoor temperature of around 26 degrees Celsius.”
Residents say they lack the financial means to relocate.
Changwon is offering public rental housing from the Korea Land and Housing Corporation, moving expenses of up to 1.5 million won ($1,040) and loans of up to 10 million won for rental deposits.
Residents, however, remain reluctant to move because of the additional expenses involved and uncertainty over how long they could stay in public rental housing.
“Even if I move into an LH rental home, I don’t know how many years I’ll be allowed to live there,” said a resident in their 70s. “I wish the local government would buy the property or offer compensation.”
“Because these are privately owned properties, it is difficult for the city to provide compensation,” a Changwon official said. “We will continue closely monitoring the condition of the buildings and encouraging residents to relocate.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
