We Cannot Even Dream of Heating Systems
The value of apartments in the national capital region has rapidly increased and the circumstances seriously arouse relative deprivation among common people. The government introduces all sorts of measures to stabilize real estate prices, since public anger cannot be controlled as they just have to sit and watch prices rising sky-high from far away.
However, while interests of the government and society are focused on the current issue of real estate, people in the low-income bracket, who live through a difficult life in this freezing winter without a heating system, are completely isolated. It seems that political measures and concerns towards those people are placed far behind, not even reaching the minimum standard of the residential law.
Hwang Jong-seong (74) from Joong 1 Dong in Haeundae Gu is one of those in the alienated low-income group. On the hill along the way of Mipo from Dahl-maji Hill (Moon Greeting Hill), there are some ten households huddling in one story of a slate building and Hwang lives in the poorest condition of all. His walls are made from wooden materials collected from a construction site and the house is completed by covering it with blankets and vinyl. His little shelter has less than four pyeong of space.
Having a home like this, Hwang cannot afford a heater to warm up the space. He has to endure strong wind blowing from the sea, and cold, by relying on an electric blanket. Even so, he worries about the electricity bill so he keeps the temperature at the lowest setting to prevent him from freezing to death.
Hwang’s home is in an unauthorized building so there are no water and sewerage facilities. He does his laundry and face washing with rain water and he gets drinking water from a spring. He uses a neighbor’s bathroom, but it is still uncomfortable.
He said, “I am just pulling through against the cold with my electronic blanket, I can’t do anything much when the wind blows in. It is more difficult to spend day after day in winter because I am getting older and older.”
There are approximately 1,600 people like Hwang who go through winter depending on an electronic blanket in a vinyl house or dugout where it is impossible to set up a heating system. What is more, tens of households make their home in caves or carved out of places without the benefits of civilization. There are estimated to be over 25,800 people who live in various types of poor homes including, (half) basement rooms, attic rooms or one-man rooms lacking minimum residential conditions.
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 / 입력시간: 2007. 01.09. 08:59
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