Hundreds of Teen Scouts have fallen ill at a global event in South Korea as a sweltering heat wave sweeps across the country, angering some parents who have called for the 12-day gathering to be called off.
Nearly 40,000 participants – mostly middle and high school students – traveled from 155 different countries to attend the event, a week-long festival of cultural performances and outdoor activities, according to Kim Hyun-sook, president of the Organizing Committee of the Jamboree and Minister for Gender Equality and Family.
Their visit comes at the same time that South Korea is consistently recording temperatures of up to 35C, triggering heat wave warnings across the country and posing a major headache for jamboree organizers.
On Thursday (3), 1,486 people visited the hospital at the site of the World Jamboree, held in Saemangeum, a few hours south of Seoul, according to Kim.
Of those who visited the hospital, 250 reported rashes, 138 had heat-related illnesses and 386 had insect bites, Kim added – but none were in critical condition, an official with the Jeonbuk Fire Department said.
As more children fell ill, concerned parents and observers around the world flooded the event’s social media pages with frantic questions, angry reprimands of organizers and demands for an end to the event – with messages written in multiple languages.
One parent wrote that their child spent the night at the jamboree sleeping on the floor because there were no tents or other equipment available. “My wallet paid a heavy price for this chaos,” he wrote.
A man posted in Spanish that his daughter was attending the event and reported that “there was no food, there was no way to protect them from the sun”.
A CNN reached out to jamboree organizers for a response to parent comments.
Photos on the website show participants gathering at a water supply zone to cool off and resting in shaded areas.
National authorities are also getting involved, with President Yoon Suk Yeol ordering an “unlimited supply” of large air-conditioned buses and refrigerated trucks to the camp on Monday.
He also ordered the organizers to improve the quality of the food provided and “immediately resolve” the problems that occurred at the venue, according to the presidential office.
In a press release on Friday, event organizers said they were working with the Red Cross to accommodate those with heat-related symptoms.
The military is also helping set up shade shelters and improving the floors of the vine tunnels where participants hide from the heat.
The jamboree is also increasing its medical staff, pest control personnel, the number of portable toilets and food supplies.
The number of cleaning staff – previously just 70 for the entire venue of 40,000 people – has increased to more than 500, organizers said.
Kim, the minister and chairman of the jamboree organization, said that about 130 refrigerated buses will be sent to the site on Friday, and another 10 refrigerated trucks will be dispatched soon.
Each Scout will receive five bottles of ice water a day, as well as cooling masks, hats, sunscreen, ice packs and salt pills, she added.
The fire department has been operating the hospital on site, with around 200 firefighters deployed to the venue each day. They are planning to increase that number for the next cultural event on Sunday (6th), when attendance is expected to increase.
Organizers have also adjusted scheduled events, suspending activities that require “significant physical activity” and replacing them with indoor programs, they said.
However, organizers hinted that they would not heed public calls to cancel the jamboree and would “ensure the safe and stable operation of this event until its conclusion”.
The heat wave escalated in late July, with 19 deaths reported from heat-related illnesses since May 20 and 1,520 reporting heat-related illnesses, according to the country’s disease control and prevention agency.
The deaths far exceed those from the same period last year, when six people died of heat-related illnesses, the agency said.
See also: Cacti can’t resist the heat wave in Arizona
Source: CNN Brasil
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