"무릎만 차도 110kg 바윗덩어리"..성인 남성도 탈출 못한다, 살려면? / SBS / AFTER 8NEWS / 동은영 사회부 기자

00:00 The Rainy Season: Undergrounds Are Dangerous 01:25 Experiencing Underground Flooding: Just How Dangerous It Is 04:42 What to Do When Escaping via Stairs? 05:43 What If Water Rises in an Underground Parking Lot? 1. The Rainy Season: Undergrounds Are Dangerous The rainy season has officially begun. When it rains heavily like it has these days, the most dangerous place is the underground space. Underground spaces refer to what we commonly know as semi-basements, underground parking lots, and underground roadways. You must be especially careful in these areas because water can rise rapidly and flood them in an instant when it rains heavily. In fact, you may recall that four years ago—in 2022, when Typhoon Hinnamno struck the Korean Peninsula—a river overflowed and submerged an underground parking lot at an apartment complex in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. At that time, seven residents lost their lives unable to escape the parking lot; these were people who had gone to move their cars after hearing an announcement that the parking lot was flooding. And in the summer of the same year, in Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, two sisters in their 40s and a teenage daughter perished after being unable to escape a flooded semi-basement. The government analyzed the number of people who died or went missing due to natural disasters—specifically storms and floods—over the past decade, and found that 37 out of 199 deaths, or about 20 percent, were caused by flooding in underground spaces. The reason underground spaces are so deadly during heavy rain is that the point where water enters and the place where people evacuate are the same; it is said that it is not easy to break through the current to evacuate. [Gong Ha-seong / Professor, Department of Fire and Disaster Prevention, Woosuk University: You have to evacuate to the point where the water enters, but the water rushes in there with a very rapid current.] 2. Experiencing How Dangerous Underground Flooding Is So, I personally experienced just how dangerous it is when an underground space is flooded, and how difficult it is to escape. The place I visited was the Boramae Safety Experience Center, operated by the Seoul Fire & Disaster Safety Headquarters. Here, you can experience various dangerous situations that may arise from floods and storms. Among them, the experience I underwent was learning how to evacuate from a flooded underground space. It involves simulating situations where the water level rises to 30cm, 50cm, and 70cm. When this story aired on the 8 o'clock news, I saw some comments suggesting that one could escape from such a situation, or questioning if the reporter wasn't working hard enough. Before actually going to experience it, I also thought, "Since I am strong, maybe I can escape." However, after the experience, I realized just how arrogant I had been. [The water is about 50cm high, reaching up to my knees. No matter how much force I apply, the door won't open.] I also watched other citizens try it out. An adult woman couldn't open the door, and even when a sturdy adult male tried to open it, the door only swayed but did not budge. And although I couldn't show it on the news, I also tried experiencing a scenario where the water level rose to about 70 centimeters—that is, up to my thighs. At that point, no matter how much force I applied, the door wouldn't budge at all, as if someone were pushing it from the front. In fact, there is an experiment conducted by the National Institute of Disaster Safety. When the water level rose to about 30 centimeters, both men and women were able to escape; however, when the water rose to about 40 centimeters—reaching the calf—men could escape, but women could not. And when the water rose to about 50 centimeters—reaching the knees—it was impossible for both men and women to escape. When I asked a researcher at the National Institute of Disaster Safety who conducted this experiment, they stated that water rising about 50 centimeters has a force equivalent to having a boulder weighing approximately 110 kilograms in front of a door. Although I couldn't show it on the news, [Kim Hak-su / Team Leader, Urban Flood Experiment Team, National Institute of Disaster Safety: Even if the water level rises by just 50 cm, it creates an effect similar to having a boulder weighing about 110 kg placed outside the door. That means the door becomes so heavy that it won't open. If the water level is around 40 centimeters, in terms of water pressure, that is nearly 70 kg for a standard fire door.] Therefore, since it becomes impossible to open a closed door and escape once the water rises to the height of an adult's knees, the best course of action is to evacuate immediately if you see even the slightest sign of rising water or if water backs up from the drain. Some of you may be wondering what posture to assume when opening a door. If you need to push the door open, it is recommended to lower your body, press your sh...