Lessons from Pohang Quake

A powerful earthquake rattled the southeastern city of Pohang in North Gyeongsang Province, causing the most damage from a quake ever.

On November 15th, a magnitude five-point-four earthquake hit Pohang’s Buk District at around 2:29 p.m. It was the second-strongest ever to hit South Korea after a five-point-eight magnitude earthquake shook the nearby city of Gyeongju last year.

However, the impact from the Pohang quake was significantly larger than the Gyeongju quake given that its seismic center was between three to seven kilometers deep, more shallow than that of the Gyeongju quake.

Tremors were felt throughout the nation and damage from the Pohang earthquake was estimated to be five times larger than Gyeongju’s quake. Some 27-thousand-300 facilities were affected, with the amount of damage estimated to stand at some 55 billion won. The damage from the Gyeongju quake had been estimated to reach eleven billion won.



The quake and aftershocks injured some ten people and displaced around 18-hundred others.

The quake struck a day before South Korea’s annual College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT). The government decided to delay the test for one week to November 23rd due to safety concerns. It marked the first time for the exam to be postponed since it was introduced in 1993.

The government decided to provide Pohang special grants and state funds by designating it as a special disaster area. The government is also launching active efforts to prevent future quake damage, including strengthening quake-proof design standards for 31 types of buildings and other infrastructure like bridges.

Photo : Yonhap News, KBS News

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