Thousands of global Scouts being shifted to safer places in South Korea ahead of tropical storm

In South Korea, thousands of global Scouts from their campsite are being shifted to safer places today ahead of a tropical storm that is forecast to bring intense rains and strong winds to the peninsula within days. More than 1,000 vehicles are being used to move 37,000 Scouts - mostly teenagers - from the World Scout Jamboree that opened last week in Buan, a county on South Korea’s southwestern coast.

Most will be accommodated in Seoul and the capital’s metropolitan



area, where officials have secured university dormitories, government and corporate training centers, and hotels. Tropical Storm Khanun has meandered around Japan’s southwestern islands for more than a week, dumping heavy rain, knocking out power and damaging homes.

Early yesterday morning, the storm was centred 350 kilometers south of Kagoshima, a city on the southwestern tip of Japan’s main southern island of Kyushu.