Rare 5.4-magnitude earthquake strikes southeastern Korea
Tremors were felt as far as Seoul hundreds of kilometers away. More than 50 people were reportedly injured including a woman in her 70s buried in the debris of a collapsed wall in Pohang. Some 30 buildings in the city were partially damaged and more than 1,300 people evacuated their homes.
The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said the quake was centered in an area some 9 kilometers north of the industrial city on the southeastern coast with a shallow depth of 9 kilometers. It occurred at around 2:29 p.m. after two foreshocks. As of 10:45 p.m. 31 aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 2.4 to 4.3 followed.
It marked the second-strongest quake since the country began to monitor seismic records in 1978, according to the weather agency. Korea's biggest magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit Gyeongju, near Pohang, last year.
But residents felt more powerful impact this time than the Gyeongju earthquake due to the shallow depth.
"We understand that the quake occurred at a shallower location than the one that hit Gyeongju," a KMA official said. "The shallower the depth is, the greater the vibration gets on the ground."
The weather agency said that aftershocks may continue to occur over the next few months.
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