[News Today] CREMATORIUM USE MAXES OUT

[LEAD]
Recent outbreaks of influenza and other respiratory illnesses are causing a sharp rise in deaths and a surge in demand for cremation services. In response, some facilities have begun restricting access to non-local residents. This has forced many grieving families to undertake long distance "emergency cremations."

[REPORT]
Funeral buses are lined up in front of a crematorium.

This crematorium increased the number of cremation furnace operations from four times a day to five. But even that is not enough to accommodate all the cremation requests.

The simultaneous spread of influenza and other respiratory illnesses lately has caused the number of deaths to spike.

In fact, the number of cremation facilities nationwide increased 17% from the past year over the last three weeks.

It's becoming increasingly common for grieving families to extend the funeral process for one more day because they couldn't find a crematorium.

Family Member Looking to Use a Crematorium /
A 3-day funeral was extended to 4 days because we had to follow the
crematorium's schedule. Everyone grew tired because the funeral lasted so long.

As the demand for cremation grew rapidly, this crematorium prohibited residents of other areas from using the facility since January 17th.

Six other cremation facilities in Daegu and Jecheon in Chungcheongbuk-do Province also banned facility use for residents from other areas.

One crematorium assigned cremation furnaces exclusively to local residents while another was set aside for people from outside the area that only permits on-day reservations.

Yang Seung-pyo/ Crematorium Operation Team
We can't accommodate them all, so we're taking emergency measures in phases.
When the problem is solved somewhat, then we can allow out-of-area
residents to use the facilities.

Residents living in an area without a crematorium nearby are forced to travel far for cremation.

Grieving Family/
We are forced to go to Sejong City because there's no room in Daejeon.

Cremation facilities plan to shorten their operating hours during the Seollal or Lunar New Year holiday, so crematorium use will continue to be difficult for some time.