Uiryeong Daeeui Flood Victims Say "Life Goes On" as Shops Begin to Reopen

90% of Customers Are from Outside Jinju and Hapcheon
"Worried About Losing Customers" ? Doing Our Best

"I have run a Chinese restaurant in the same spot for 37 years. After experiencing this flood for the first time in my life, I felt so devastated that I considered closing my business. But what can I do? I have to find a way to keep going until the day I die."

On the 1st, Bae Youngja (71) of Daeeui Banjeom was seen spraying water in the yard and organizing utensils to welcome customers again starting Monday. This was a stark contrast to July 20, when she was in tears, saying, "The precious flour is just floating away in the water."

Daee Banjeom President Youngja Bae is preparing to start business by sprinkling water in front of the store. Provided by Uiryeong-gun

Due to record-breaking heavy rain in Guseong Village, Daeeui-myeon, Uiryeong-gun, more than half of the village was submerged, and over twenty restaurants and shops were devastated beyond recognition. However, two weeks later, businesses are beginning to reopen one by one.

A rice soup restaurant with a 50-year tradition, a Chinese restaurant that has operated in the same place for nearly 40 years, the neighborhood barbershop, and even the post office, which served as a community gathering place, all announced that they would resume operations at the start of August.

Each restaurant owner felt a sense of urgency that they could not simply sit idly by and decided to restart their businesses. Each store suffered economic losses in the tens of millions of won, and they all agreed that if they stopped or delayed operations any longer, recovery would be impossible. This collective decision by business owners is closely related to the unique characteristics of the local commercial district in Daeeui-myeon due to its geographical conditions.

MaSsang Meat Restaurant CEO Lee Haneul is preparing for business. Photo by Uiryeong County

Lee Haneul (29), owner of Massang Meat Restaurant, said, "Daeeui-myeon is located at the intersection of Jinju City, Hapcheon-gun, and Sancheong-gun, so more than 90% of our customers are travelers who stop by for a meal. Since people now see this as a flood-affected area, customers have completely stopped coming. Sales need to recover to a certain level for us to get back on our feet."

Daeeui Post Office, which could no longer ignore the inconvenience faced by local residents who had to send parcels at Saengbiryang Post Office and Samga Post Office, both a 20-minute drive away, also resumed operations on the 1st.

Postmaster Lee Taehun said, "Many people came to remake their bankbooks because their homes were flooded. Since our computer systems were down, we had no choice but to turn them away. Although there is currently no support for public institution recovery, the post office needs to do what it can to help stabilize residents' daily lives," he said.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the construction of the basic living hub project to expand the cultural and welfare infrastructure in Daeeui-myeon also resumed, bringing the sounds of machinery and workers back to the area around the Daeeui-myeon office for the first time in a while.

At an executive meeting on the 4th, County Governor Oh Taewan said, "I ask all Uiryeong-gun public officials to support the flood-affected area by dining at Daeeui-myeon restaurants. I myself will make a point of having lunch there frequently. Reviving the local economy in Daeeui-myeon should be the ultimate goal of recovery," he said.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.