Last July 16th, the Chung-cheong province turned into a madhouse because of the localized heavy rain which began the night before. Houses, roads, shopping districts, and farmlands sunk under the water and there were frequent landslides. Over a thousand cars were submerged under the water and roads were damaged. In Cheong-ju city, 290mm of rain poured down, which was the most amount since 1995, so Musim Stream, which goes through the city, overflowed. Fortunately, the localized heavy rain entered a quiet stage in the afternoon on that day. However, complete restoration of flood damage is quite hard because of a continuous rainy spell in the Chung-cheong province.
  To help the victims from the intense damage caused by the flood, on July 17th, staff members of Loving Center for Disaster Victims, which is under the leadership of CBNU’s professors including the president, Yoon Yeo-pyo, visited them. They consoled victims and delivered necessities to them. On July 21st and July 27th, 70 to 80 members of the CBNU teaching staff visited the flooded areas, provided a helping hand and shared the pain. The teaching staff engaged in volunteer work and helped clean and remove materials of fallen greenhouses, flood debris and mud that were piled on the roads.
  Many students of CBNU also participated in the restoration work. 19 students of 'CBNU Student Council Emergency Planning Committee’ visited Oksan town and provided recovery volunteer services such as cleaning surrounding areas. A student who participated in the volunteer service removed materials of fallen greenhouses, flood debris and mud from the roads. Lim Yu-jin(ʼ15, Dept. of Economics), who participated in the volunteer service on that day, said, “The fact that Cheong-ju city had huge flood damages didn’t appeal to me when I saw that news in a newspaper. However, when I heard the requests for help, I realized that it was a serious issue. Therefore, our CBNU Emergency Planning Committee thought that we had to help not only school development but also our community, which was suffering from flood damage, so we went to Oksan to volunteer. The damaged greenhouses were not on a small scale, but 19 students worked and sweated together. Consequently, we were able to finish the large-scale work from 8 am to 1 pm. Though we couldn’t restore it perfectly to its original state, the words of thanks from the residents of Oksan town were so warm. By volunteering in the damaged area, Oksan town was filled with warmth, and we felt that warmth too. However, there are still many towns asking for help. If you are reading this newspaper, offer a warm helping hand to them. If so, the residents will have a better day than yesterday.” Not only the CBNU Emergency Planning Committee but also students of the School of Electronics Engineering also participated in volunteer service such as arranging the insides the greenhouses and removing debris.
  A volunteer service club also participated in the restoration of the flooded areas. ‘Withus’, which is a volunteer club that focuses on disaster relief and repairing houses, did some house repairs to improve the residential environment from last August 11th to 13th. ‘Withus’ club went to Naedeok-dong on the 11th, Mochung-dong on the 12th and Miwon-myeon on the 13th. They attached lining papers, cut wallpaper, pasted it and papered the walls. They also did work like laying new linoleum on floors. They started work at about 9 am and finished only when they were done papering, cleaning, distributing furniture and laying linoleum.
  Jun Byeong-ho, who lives in Naeduk 1-dong where ‘Withus’ came to volunteer, said, “As one of the people who was harmed by the flood, I was moved by the students who worked hard because we are complete strangers. The spirit of the students was very comforting and helpful to the exhausted flood victims, and it made me look back on myself that I haven’t taken care of the neighborhood. I appreciate CBNU students for their kindness.” The CBNU members’ dedication to volunteering and their shared pain with the flood victims has been a great help to the flood victims. The CBNU members’ volunteer work to restore flood damaged areas has made a great contribution to the community.

By Hong Ye-ha
yh37@cbnu.ac.kr
By Yoo Jin-kyu
jk37@cbnu.ac.kr