- Despite the extreme heat, the World Scout Meeting in South Korea will continue for the time being.
- Numerous participants have already had to be treated for heat-related symptoms of illness, and some associations withdrew their participants.
- The Swiss delegation – like most of the other delegations – decided on Saturday to continue the camp.
- This was said by delegation spokeswoman Barbara Hochuli.
The Swiss embassy, the delegation doctors and the delegation management currently assess the situation as “satisfactory”. There have not yet been any hospitalizations among the 1,430 Swiss people aged 14 to 18.
In contrast, the British scout contingent decided to withdraw its more than 4000 participants and bring them to Seoul. The US association also decided to move its members to a nearby military base.
Air-conditioned buses
The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) announced on Friday evening that the organizers had assured “to do everything possible to overcome the problems caused by the heat wave”. South Korea wants to provide additional resources for this.
President Yoon Suk Yeol had ordered, among other things, air-conditioned buses and trucks with sufficient ice water for the participants to be sent to the camp on the west coast every day.
Legend:
Cooling off at a Boy Scout campsite in Buan, South Korea (August 4, 2023)
Keystone/Choe Young-soo/Yonhap via AP
These measures are already having an effect and the improvements are noticeable, said Hochuli. There are more shaded areas every hour and the hygiene measures and health care have also been significantly improved. However, the leaders of the delegations meet daily to analyze the situation and, if necessary, to reassess it.
Hardly any natural shade
The meeting, for which more than 43,000 Scouts from 158 countries had registered, takes place in Saemangeum on an area reclaimed from the sea. It should last until August 12th. The World Scout Meeting is held every four years.
Saemangeum offers virtually no natural shade for the participants, who are accommodated in more than 20,000 tents. South Korea is under the influence of a severe heat wave with temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius and so-called tropical nights, in which it is currently only slightly cooling down.