South Korea scrambles to protect 40,000 scouts from brutal heatwave: ‘this is real chaos’

President Yoon Suk-yeol has tasked officials to urgently provide air-conditioned buses, and improve meals and facilities at a gathering of international scouts

Hundreds have been treated for heat-related illnesses, while the World Scout Jamboree has also been plagued by bugs, dirty toilets and inadequate food

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Attendees of the World Scout Jamboree cool off with water at a scout camping site in Buan, South Korea, on Friday. Photo: Yonhap via AP

Published: 7:17pm, 4 Aug 2023Updated: 8:11pm, 4 Aug 2023

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday ordered his government to urgently provide air-conditioned buses and refrigerator trucks to help cool down the tens of thousands of attendees at the World Scout Jamboree, where hundreds have sought medical treatment amid a scorching heatwave.

The event, which congregates teenage scouts from around the world, is this year taking place outdoors in the seaside county of Buan, some 180km southwest of Seoul.

Aside from colourful tents and awnings, there is little natural shade around the 8.8 sq km of reclaimed tidelands on which the gathering is held, and where participants have pitched their tents on shipping pallets laid on the soggy ground.

To make matters worse, apart from the hot and humid weather, the jamboree has also been plagued by bugs, dirty toilets, inadequate food, and a lack of services.

Attendees of the World Scout Jamboree hold umbrellas to avoid sunshine at a scout camping site in Buan, South Korea, on Friday. Photo: Yonhap via AP

Weather forecasts show the mercury is expected to hover around 35 degrees Celsius with no signs of cooling down in the coming weeks at a venue where the quadrennial world jamboree is under way until August 12, with some 43,000 scouts from 158 countries taking part.