Wednesday, October 14, 2009

forest fires report

The Chosun announces that "forest fires burn nearly 900 hectares yearly". I say, that sounds pretty damn good. Canada loses 516,000 hectares a year -granted Canada is much larger, but still we also have fewer people to start fires. Korea had an average of 453 fires a year over the past five years, of which just over 200 a year were caused by hikers, with around a 100 caused by farmers.

By way of comparison, The Seoul Times (dated today?) states that the Naksan fire alone burned 973 hectares

Maybe I just can't process how much larger Canada is than South Korea or I am not reading these numbers right. One way or another, I gotta say loosing 900 hectares a year sounds like peanuts (my condolences to any who lost their homes or loved ones. I understand that any amount of fire might be considered too much) Congratulations to Korea's forest fire fighting crews.

2 comments:

skindleshanks said...

If it helps, Canada is almost exactly 100 times larger than Korea in land area.

kwandongbrian said...

So Canada has five times more fires per area than Korea?

I am surprised that Canada is only 100 times larger - I thought it might be even more.