South Korea shuts down exam as rare quake hits
MORE than 50 people were injured and 1 500 taken to shelters in South Korea after a rare 5.4magnitude quake hit the southeastern port of Pohang on Wednesday.
The second-most powerful quake recorded in the south hit at a shallow depth of 9km on Wednesday afternoon, sparking alarm in a country that rarely experiences significant tremors.
The quake, felt across the country including in the capital Seoul, damaged nearly 1 100 homes and more than 100 schools, the safety ministry said.
Roads and public and military facilities were also damaged, while 57 people were left injured with 1 536 seeking shelter outside their home, it said – adding no deaths had been reported.
It came about a year after the country’s most powerful quake to date, a 5.8-magnitude tremor that struck another southeastern city, Gyeongju, in September 2016.
Photos of the aftermath of Wednesday’s quake showed damaged homes, shattered storefronts and cars smashed by fallen bricks.
One video posted on social media showed dozens of students fleeing in panic as a large brick facade crumbled and fell off the top of a campus building.
As dozens of aftershocks continued to rattle Pohang, Seoul announced late on Wednesday the unusual decision to postpone the country’s nationwide college entrance exam – scheduled for yesterday – by a week.
It was the second time the test has been postponed since 1992, when several test papers were found missing a day before the exam, forcing authorities to delay the event by several weeks.
The Korean peninsula, unlike Japan, rarely experiences significant quakes, but seismic activity is closely monitored because a spike in activity is often the first indication that North Korea has staged a nuclear test. — AFP