Earthquakes- Week 3


Since South Korea is located in a less seismically active region earthquakes are not as common, but this doesn't mean that they are free from ever experiencing them. Despite being on the Eurasian plate South Korea is located far away from active plate boundaries which is able to reduce the regularity of earthquakes. 

The second largest earthquake to happen in modern South Korea occurred in 2017 with a magnitude of 5.5 and happened in Pohang. The Pohang earthquake unfortunately injured 90 people and caused $52 million in damage. Pohang is known to be in an area where an earthquake may less likely occur. But the reason why the event happened wasn't exactly caused by nature itself. It was caused by the operations of an enhanced geothermal system project. Their plan was to harvest energy by injecting high-pressure water into the subsurface. Apparently, the high-pressure water injection activated a previously unknown fault line which led to the earthquake. The first largest earthquake occurred in 779, with a magnitude between 6.7-7.0 which also happened to be South Koreas deadliest earthquake in history. 

As for mitigation, it wasn't until 1995 when the public of South Korea recognized earthquakes as a serious policy problem. They later developed a program for seismic disasters. To prevent and reduce the damages of earthquakes, the government created designs for buildings to be earthquake resistant. The government also prepared drills for earthquakes. Evacuation instructions were given to the public as a way to practice in case of an emergency. What they were told to do was if a person was indoors they should take cover in small spaces or duck under sturdy furniture. This was a lesson for citizens who thought that South Korea was safe from such events. 

https://www.science.org/content/article/second-largest-earthquake-modern-south-korean-history-tied-geothermal-plant

file:///C:/Users/pache/Downloads/jps-17-2-13.pdf

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