"There is nothing. I have lived for more than 40 years, and there is nothing left in my hands."
At about 12 a.m. on the 16th in Guryong Village, Gaepo-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul. Go Jae-ok, 85, whom we met at the village entrance, hung their head, unable to continue speaking. Around 5 a.m., fleeing the flames, the only thing Go had in hand was a mobile phone. Go said, "I begged them to somehow stop the fire, but in the end they couldn't," and burst into tears they had been holding back.
In Guryong Village, known as the "last shantytown in Gangnam," a large fire broke out at dawn that day, and residents lost their homes in an instant. Flames that started in District 4, carried by strong winds, swept into adjacent Districts 5 and 6. Disaster victims said, "Everything disappeared in the fire, and we have nowhere to go and nothing to our name."
◇A village filled with smoke… tapping their feet without even masks
Around 11 a.m., the area around Guryong Village was so shrouded in acrid smoke from the fire that the sky was covered and visibility was near zero. It was hard to breathe without a mask, but among residents who evacuated in haste, only one or two out of ten wore one. With no masks being provided, only those who had prepared their own could barely block the smoke.
Residents gathered between fire engines and stared toward the interior of the village where their burned homes stood. Some held up mobile phones to film in the direction of the burned houses, while others silently looked down at the ground. One resident, speaking with family on the phone, sighed and said, "I'm physically okay, but the house is completely burned down. I'm not sure this is really okay."
Most residents had fled so quickly they hadn't even grabbed a handbag. A resident surnamed Kim, 63, said, "At around 5:20 a.m., news of the fire went up in the residents' group chat and everyone evacuated in a hurry," adding, "There was no time to pack anything in that situation," recalling the tense moments.
District 6, which suffered the most damage in this fire, is the largest area within Guryong Village, with about 150 households clustered together. A District 6 resident surnamed Sim, 78, said, "The home where I lived with my son has turned to ashes," adding, "All I can do is cry."
◇"Where do we go for dinner tonight?" bleak livelihoods
Around 12 p.m., the residents' self-governance committee cafeteria at the village entrance was packed with disaster victims. In a cramped space of about 330 square feet, some 20 people sat shoulder to shoulder, getting by on bean sprout soup and rice.
Resident A said, "We don't even have anything to eat right now, so I'm relieved they're at least giving us this much," but added, "I'm worried about where to go and what to eat for dinner tonight."
Even in hardship, residents comforted one another. People exchanged words like, "Are you okay?" and "Did your house escape the fire?" Resident B said, "Because most village residents are elderly, we supported a grandmother next door during the evacuation," adding, "They say there have been no casualties so far, and I hope that's true."
At about 12:30 p.m., a resident in their 80s was pulling a suitcase and looking toward the burned homes. The resident said, "When there was a fire before, thieves took advantage of it, so this time I made sure to bring out my important clothes first," adding, "If I hadn't even managed that, there truly would have been nothing left."
◇Fire authorities begin probe into cause of blaze
In one corner of the village, blankets and daily necessities brought by the Korean Red Cross were stacked up. Some residents asked, "It's cold—when can we receive them?" A Korean Red Cross official said, "After we finish consultations with resident representatives, we plan to distribute them sequentially by district."
The main blaze was brought under control in about 6 hours and 30 minutes. Around 11:34 a.m. that day, fire authorities lowered the response level from Level 2 to Level 1 and worked on putting out embers. The fire authorities and police plan to investigate the exact circumstances as soon as they finish extinguishing the fire.