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| Students leave Ulsan Girls' High School after two earthquakes hit Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, just above Ulsan, Monday night. / Yonhap |
By Ko Dong-hwan
Busan high school students have criticized teachers for not taking care of them during earthquakes that struck the nation Monday evening.
One of the students studying at the school detailed the night on SNS. The third-year student said the school sent first and second-year students home after the first earthquake but ordered third-year students to keep studying.
"Parents called the school to ask about the third-year students but the school told them not to worry because teachers are taking good care of them," the student said. "It is irresponsible of them to say such nonsense that five to six teachers will take care of 200 students safely. We also heard that the vice principal left after the first quake, too."
The student said the school let them go home after the second quake that happened about 50 minutes after the first.
"Although the school wanted to push students to study hard for the college scholastic ability test in November, it was still wrong of them to endanger the students' lives amid the quakes," the student said.
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The 5.8-magnitutde earthquake, the most powerful in South Korea since 1978 when the nation started measuring tremors, struck the historic city of Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, about 8:30 p.m., 50 minutes after a 5.1-magnitude quake hit the city.
Other students in the area were also critical of the way teachers handled the situation. One student from Gyeongju showed online a text message sent by a school to parents that revealed the school kept students in class until the second quake.
A girls' high school student said a warden ordered students to stay in their dormitory but they ignored the order and went outside just in case the building collapsed.
"Since the Sewol ferry tragedy, we cannot trust adults' orders to ‘stay inside,'" students said, according to media reports. They were referring to the accident in April 2014 that killed 300 people when the ferry sank in waters off the southwestern island of Jindo. Most victims were Danwon High School students from Incheon who followed staff orders to stay inside while the ship was sinking.
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