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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》Tens of thousands of young Scouts to evacuate jamboree
British Scout members leave the World Scout Jamboree campsite in Buan, South Korea, on Sunday. Photo: AP
TAIWAN’S DELEGATION: About 1,600 representatives are to be relocated and continue attending the activities until their return on Saturday, an official said
AP, SEOUL
South Korea is today to evacuate tens of thousands of Scouts — including a 1,600-member delegation from Taiwan — from a coastal jamboree site in Saemangeum as Tropical Storm Khanun looms, officials said yesterday.
Starting this morning, more than 1,000 vehicles are to be used to move 36,000 Scouts — mostly teenagers — from the World Scout Jamboree in the southwestern county of Buan, South Korean Vice Minister of the Interior and Safety Kim Sung-ho said.
Most of the Scouts, who come from 158 countries, are to be accommodated at venues in the capital, Seoul, and nearby metropolitan area, he said.
Officials were trying to secure spaces at government training centers and education facilities, as well as hotels. Kim said it would take six hours or more to evacuate the Scouts from the campsite, which organizers said would no longer be used for any event after they leave.
Officials at Camp Humphreys, a major US military base 70km south of Seoul, did not immediately confirm reports that thousands of Scouts from Sweden, Norway and Denmark were to be transferred to its facilities.
The base is already accommodating hundreds of US Scouts, who were moved over the weekend because of heat concerns as South Korea grapples with one of its hottest summers in years.
The announcement about the evacuations came after the World Organization of the Scout Movement said it called on South Korea to quickly move the Scouts from the storm’s path and “provide all necessary resources and support for participants during their stay and until they return to their home countries.”
In Taipei, Deputy Minister of Education Lin Ming-yu （林明裕）, who is responsible for the supervision of scouting activities, said that Taiwan’s Scouting association yesterday morning filed an official application to relocate from the campsite due to concerns about heat-related illnesses.
Lin said the jamboree’s organizers later announced that the campsite would be fully evacuated due to Khanun’s approach.
Taiwan’s Scouts were scheduled to be removed from the site today and continue their jamboree activities elsewhere before returning home on Saturday, Lin added.
Earlier yesterday, Lin said that Taiwanese children had faced difficulties adapting to the camp conditions in South Korea, including dealing with bug bites, extreme heat and other problems.
That prompted Taiwan’s General Association of Scouts to request that Taiwanese Scouts leave the campsite, Lin said.
Khanun has taken an unusual, meandering path around Japan’s southwestern islands for more than a week, dumping heavy rain, knocking out power to thousands of homes, and disrupting flights and train services.
South Korea’s weather agency reported that Khanun was expected to make landfall in South Korea on Thursday morning.
Large swaths of the country’s south, including Buan, could be affected by the storm as early as Wednesday, the agency said.
Additional reporting by CNA
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
Attendees of the World Scout Jamboree prepare to leave a scout camping site in Buan, South Korea, yesterday. Photo: AP
