By Kim Se-jeong
A 4.9-magnitude earthquake shook Baengnyeong Island in the West Coast near the North Korean border, Saturday, the strongest one to hit the island. No casualties were reported.
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), the quake was the sixth strongest since 1978 when it started compiling quake data.
This was the same magnitude as the highest this year: a quake in waters off Sinan, South Jeolla Province, in April.
The quake was registered at 7:02 a.m. and the epicenter was located 31 kilometers off the southern coast of the island.
The tremor was strong enough to be felt even in the satellite cities around Seoul, and was followed by several aftershocks throughout the day, KMA officials said.
The quake woke the islanders whose population is more than 4,000. The KMA was inundated with phone calls from residents.
“The shake came with a strong wind. And I thought it’s due to a missile test by North Korea, and quickly knelt down on the farm,” an island resident, surnamed Chung, was quoted as saying by Yonhap News.
The island is on the sea border with North Korea.
A KMA official said Saturday’s earthquake was one of many that have shaken the area in recent weeks.
“Baengnyeong Island has a lot of small-scale earthquakes, which are too trivial to be reported. On May 14 and 15, for example, tremors which shook the island measured 2.6 and 2.7 in magnitude.”
The KMA official played down the significance of the latest quake.
“I wouldn’t blame those who might anticipate that something bigger will happen. However, there is no scientific evidence to back it up,” he said Sunday.
One day earlier, a professor warned during a TV interview of a destructive earthquake saying an active fault could be blamed for the weekend’s quake.
The quake, which took the island residents by surprise, woke the islanders whose population is more than 4,000. The KMA was inundated with phone calls from residents.
The shake came with a strong wind. And I thought its due to a missile test by North Korea, and quickly kneeled down on the farm, an island resident, surnamed Chung, was quoted as saying by Yonhap News.
The island is on the frontline of defense against North Korea in the case of a war.
A KMA official said Saturdays earthquake was one of many that have shaken the area in recent weeks.
Baengnyeong Island has a lot of small-scale earthquakes, which are too trivial to be reported. On May 14 and 15, for example, tremors which shook the island and its neighboring water had 2.6 and 2.7 magnitudes.
I wouldnt blame those who might anticipate that something bigger will happen. Yet, there is no scientific evidence to back it up, he said.
One day earlier, however, a professor, during a TV interview, warned of a destructive earthquake saying an active fault could be blamed for the weekends quake.