The earthquake panics Korea

An unprecedented scale of earthquakes jolted South Korea’s historic city of Gyeongju on Monday night, with a 5.1 magnitude of pre-shake followed by the largest ever 5.8 magnitude main quake and 210 aftershocks including those as strong as 3.1 and 3.2 magnitudes. The whole nation, not to mention the residents of nearby regions, was shocked at the powerful earthquake, staying up the rest of the night in fear. The nation’s Ministry of Public Safety and Security, which was launched after the tragic Sewol ferry accident in 2014, as well as the Korean Broadcasting System, the national disaster broadcaster, failed to carry out their role as disaster control towers.

Hit by an extraordinary level of earthquake and not aware of appropriate ways to protect themselves, people screamed and ran out of the buildings not knowing what to do. The government’s disaster alarm messages were sent to the cell phones of the residents in the Yeongnam area 9 minutes after the first quake. The Korea Meteorological Administration had reported the ministry of the outbreak within 26 seconds, but the ministry claims that its emergency alarm system had technological limitations. Wireless phones and KakaoTalk messaging service were temporarily unavailable and the public safety ministry’s webpage was down, raising the level of public anxiety.

Around 1 a.m. last night, two railway repair workers on duty near the Gimcheon Gumi station of the KTX high speed train died being hit by the train. The workers were not informed of the delay of the train, which was not supposed to be passing the section at the time, with regard to the earthquakes. This could be seen as a result of a loophole in the post-disaster coordination system. The government had come up with a comprehensive improvement measures against earthquakes along with a guideline. However fancy these measures seem, they could not be free from criticism that they were no more than another patchy work.

Wolseong and Gori, both close to the downtown of Gyeongju city, have six nuclear reactors running, and the number will rise to a total of 16 after the new reactors currently under construction are completed. A low and intermediate level radioactive waste disposal site is also located in the city. The plants are designed to withstand up to earthquakes of 6.5 magnitude and 7.0 for the new reactors, but this is not enough to settle all the fears. A single accident in nuclear power plants could lead to irrevocable consequences just as we have seen in the Fukushima case.

Ko Yun-hwa, administrator of the Korea Meteorological Administration, said Tuesday that an earthquake of magnitudes of 5.8 to 6.0 can take place any time, admitting the ongoing concerns. Only 6.8 percent of all 6,986,913 buildings in Korea are designed to resist earthquake, meaning a 6.0 magnitude of earthquake would bring a huge disaster. The government should understand that Korea is no longer a safe place from large-scale earthquakes and reinforce social infrastructure.