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A employee clears up a liquor shop in
Fukuoka after a strong earthquake measuring
7.0 hit southern Japanese island of Kyushu
on Sunday morning.
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The specter of a tsunami like the one that devastated South Asia late last year hit the Korean Peninsula on Sunday when an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck off the coast of Fukuoka, Japan. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) put out a tsunami warning a full 27 minutes after the earthquake occurred, exposing serious flaws in the early warning system.
It was no stellar performance by the broadcast media either, with KBS TV being the quickest to run a report on the earthquake 14 minutes and 30 seconds after it happened. In Japan, reports came immediately after the earthquake as a result of its automatic warning system.
Sunday¡¯s earthquake 45 km northwest of Fukuoka at 10:53 a.m. shook buildings in Busan and Seoul, leading to evacuations and widespread confusion.
The KMA put out a tsunami alert for the southern and East Sea coasts and Jeju Island at 11:20 a.m. At 12:30, the warning was lifted. The KMA said unlike the Indonesia earthquake that led to the Dec. 26 tsunami, Sunday¡¯s tremor resulted from the Earth¡¯s crust moving horizontally, not vertically, and took place in shallow water about 300 meters deep. It injured about 150 people and collapsed some 20 houses in Japan. It was Kyushu¡¯s first earthquake measuring over 6.0 on the Richter scale in eight years since May 1997.
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A citizen trains her binoculars on the sea after a warning was issued on Sunday morning that a possible tsunami could hit southeastern Korea after a strong earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale rocked the southern Japanese island of Kyushu.
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The KMA recorded tremors of 4.0 on the Richter scale in the Gyeongsang provinces, 170 km from the epicenter, while the Jeolla provinces experienced tremors of 3.0 and the Chungcheong provinces and areas north 2.0.
The KMA is supposed to put out warnings within 15 minutes of a temblor, but Sunday¡¯s warning came 12 minutes late. The KMA earthquake center said it took some time to analyze the location of the epicenter and effects the quake would have in Korea.
But experts say a tsunami would have struck Korea¡¯s southern coast no more than 10 minutes after the KMA warning, rendering it virtually useless. Park Hyeong-ju of Kyungwon College Disaster Management Department said this was a typical example of Korea¡¯s lax attitude toward disaster prevention.
The KMA said it would upgrade equipment and personnel so that as to be able to issue warnings within 10 minutes of an earthquake by 2007.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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