Sitting in front of his home, Chang Woon-il looked almost out of place, a lonely human figure on a street where stray dogs wandered among the abandoned and broken houses. Nor was he intending to stay very long. Wielding a stubby knife, Chang, a 64-year-old fisherman, quickly shucked oysters as he hurried to gather as much food as he could before catching the next ferry out. He arrived the previous day on his first visit back to this small island in the Yellow Sea since last month, when it was hit by a deadly North Korean artillery barrage. Like most of 1,350 civilian residents of this once sleepy fishing town, he fled to the South Korean mainland after the attack. And like many of these newly created refugees, he says he is so fearful of another attack that he may never be able to live here again, even though the islanders have nowhere else to go. As Yeonpyeong Island's few remaining civilian residents start to pick up the pieces from the sudden bombardment, which killed two South Korean marines and two civilian construction workers, many wonder whether it will ever fully recover. Many, like Chang, are giving second thought to living on the island, which is also host to a garrison of 1,000 marines and is just eight miles from heavily armed North Korea. But others appear determined to stay, saying Yeonpyeong, best known for its tasty crabs until the attack, has been home to their families since before the peninsula was divided when Japanese colonial control ended in 1945. The marines are mostly out of sight on the island's northern half, though a few can be seen posted at newly erected roadblocks that keep the civilians within the town limits. According to the town hall, Yeonpyeong's civilian population is now just 60 permanent residents and 74 town officials, many of them rotating from the mainland. The attack also drew 71 journalists and as many as 80 activists, mostly members of anti-North Korean nationalist groups. According to the town hall, 44 islanders and marines were wounded in the attack, which destroyed 25 homes and damaged 78 more. Officials are trying to reach out to residents and persuade them to return. They have also asked the central government for financial assistance, including a resumption of subsidies that were paid to residents until the 1980s to keep them on the island, strategically located near waters claimed by both Koreas. The town's 19 bomb shelters, unfurnished concrete bunkers that date from the 1970s, will also be modernized. 