“Earthquake of Magnitude 3.1 Strikes North Chungcheong Province – Korea Meteorological Administration Reports”

The Korea Meteorological Administration announced on the 30th that an earthquake of magnitude 3.1 occurred in an area 16 km east of Okcheon-gun (Cheongseong-myeon) in North Chungcheong Province at around 7:3:29 pm. The epicenter is 36.32 degrees north latitude, 127.75 degrees east longitude (± 0.5 km), and the depth of the earthquake is 6 km.

The maximum seismic intensity is 4 in Chungbuk, 3 in Gyeongbuk, Daejeon, and Chungnam, and 2 in Gangwon, Gyeonggi, Gyeongnam, Sejong, and Jeonbuk.

A seismic intensity of 4 is felt by many people indoors and shakes dishes and windows. A seismic intensity of 3 is noticeably felt by people indoors, especially on upper floors of buildings, and is a slight shaking of a stationary car. A magnitude of 2 is only felt by a few people in quiet conditions or on upper floors of buildings.

The Korea Meteorological Administration urged safety, saying that earthquake shaking can be felt in areas near an earthquake. By 7:20 p.m. that day, about 80 reports of feeling the earthquake had been received by the fire department.

This year, 36 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or higher occurred on the Korean Peninsula and in the surrounding waters, including the Okcheon earthquake. The earthquake that occurred on this day was the third largest earthquake on record.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, 122 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or greater have been detected since 1978 within a radius of 50 km from the epicenter of this earthquake. There were 100 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or more and less than 3.0, and 21 earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.0 or more and less than 4.0. The only earthquake exceeding magnitude 5.0 was the one magnitude 5.2 earthquake that occurred on September 16, 1978.