These were some of the conditions that about 40,000 teenage scouts had to contend with in the past week at the World Scout Jamboree, sending red-faced organisers in South Korea scrambling to fix matters before a looming typhoon forced everyone to leave the ill-fated campsite.
As far back as 2017, when South Korea won the bid to host the jamboree, the campsite on reclaimed mud flats was seen as potentially problematic, according to a Reuters review of publicly available government reports.
Matt Hyde, UK Scouts' chief executive, told Reuters the group decided to withdraw its contingent - the event's biggest - because toilets weren't being cleaned, rubbish was building up, and scouts weren't getting enough food.
[1/5]Participants who left the camping site of the 25th World Scout Jamboree, arrive at a university in Incheon, South Korea, August 8, 2023.
"South Korea has been known as a developed country so who would have thought that this country can't fix issues like bugs or toilets?"
Persons:
Matt Hyde, weren't, Kim Soo, Kim Hyun, Hong Ki Yong, Josh Smith, Miral
Organizations:
South, FIFA, South Korea, Saemangeum Development, Investment Agency, Scouts, Reuters, REUTERS, WHO, University of Incheon, Thomson
Locations:
SEOUL, South Korea, West Virginia, North Jeolla, Incheon, Korea's, Busan, Korea