South Gyeongsang Province is accelerating its "resettlement complex development project" to swiftly stabilize the lives of residents of Sangneung Village in Saengbiryang-myeon, Sancheong County, where the entire village collapsed last year due to extreme rainfall and landslides.
According to the provincial government on the 19th, Sangneung Village suffered massive damage from torrential rains between July 16 and 19 last year. The ground gave way entirely, with a slope spanning approximately 130,000 square meters in front of the village washed away, and most of the 24 to 26 buildings, including houses and ancestral shrines, were either buried under soil or collapsed. Village roads, county roads, and small stream sections were buried under mounds of earth, and infrastructure including roads, water supply, and power facilities was virtually all destroyed, leading to a determination that the village was "in an unrecoverable state." All houses were declared "uninhabitable." However, no casualties occurred as residents evacuated quickly during the downpour.
Rather than restoring the existing village, where ground stability has been lost, the provincial government decided to build a new resettlement complex on a different site whose safety has been reviewed and to collectively relocate all residents. It has been pushing relocation measures since July last year.
Detailed design work for the new resettlement complex and consultations with related agencies are currently underway. The province and Sancheong County plan to shorten various administrative procedures as much as possible to advance the project's groundbreaking and minimize inconvenience to displaced residents from prolonged temporary housing.
Earlier in April, at a South Gyeongsang Province Urban Planning Committee meeting held to revise the county management plan, the principle was emphasized that the new resettlement complex must go beyond a simple residential relocation and be developed as a village safe from disasters such as land creep and landslides. The committee presented various opinions on the layout and facility planning of the resettlement complex, focusing on disaster prevention measures and ground stability.
The province is continuously inspecting the planned resettlement site to monitor progress. It also plans to manage schedules to prevent delays in detailed design and administrative procedures, while meticulously supporting living conditions to ensure displaced residents face no inconvenience in temporary housing until the complex is completed.
"The Sangneung Village resettlement complex development project goes beyond simple disaster recovery and is an important project to restore residents' living foundations," said Shin Jong-woo, director general of the Urban and Housing Bureau at South Gyeongsang Province. "We will do our utmost to provide administrative support so that displaced residents can return to a safe daily life as soon as possible."
