JEJU Island Earthquake 14th.DEC.2021 in South Korea

Earthquake point of JEJU Island

14th.DEC.2021 Around 5:19 PM (UCT +9)
4.9 Magnitude earthquake detected around JEJU Island.

  Earthquake is not a daily situation in South Korea. Unlike Japan, where underwent earthquakes frequently throughout history, South Korea has had quite a few experiences of earthquakes. Of course, the scale and also power of the earthquake are way weaker than Japan's cases, so this earthquake is the 11th biggest earthquake detected in South Korea.


  Because of the low data and frequency of the earthquake, Korea doesn't have strong building structures that can hold powerful earthquakes. This issue was spotted in 2016 GyeongJu when the 5.1, 5.9 magnitude earthquake strikes twice. Which is the strongest earthquake ever detected in Korea history. Some of the houses got cracks or crashed and window glasses were shattered.


  That showed how much Korea's buildings are not capable of resisting the big earthquake. Korean government set the manual throughout this experience and, today, when the earthquake hit Jeju island, all of the main broadcast channels started to warn about the earthquake.

Learn KoreanNatural Disaster Vocabulary

 

Earthquake - 지진 (JiJin)

  As soon as the earthquake has detected from the JEJU Island, the Korea meteorological administration(KMA) sent an urgent text message to the public with a warning alarm. They informed the earthquake as 5.3 magnitude but soon they corrected the scale as 4.9 magnitude earthquake.

[기상청] 12월 14일 17:19 제주 서귀포시 서남서쪽 32km 해역 규모5.3 지진발생/낙하물로부터 몸 보호, 진동 멈춘 후 야외 대피하며 여진주의
[Meteorological Administration] 17:19 14th Dec, 32km WSW of SeoGwiPo-Si JEJU, 5.3 magnitude earthquake occurred/protect the body from the fallen objects, evacuate to outdoor after the shake has stopped, and be cautious for the secondary shock

 

 

   This beeping alarm sound was also caught on the camera while KPOP group NCT was streaming the countdown live for their comeback. They didn't capture it as an earthquake warning message but assumed it as a COVID19 guidance message or dial at first. Covid19 related text message is quite a common text message these days in South Korea because of the outstandingly rising number of daily new patients.

   It is sent from Korea Disease Control Center and this message is labeled as 안전 안내 문자(Safety Guide Message) which means this alarm message doesn't have a beeping sound since it is not a 긴급 재난 문자(Urgent Disaster Message).

  So they thought it was just another COVID19 related message but when they realized it was an Urgent disaster message for the earthquake, Mark and Johnny bit played around with it because one of their song titles was literally 'Earthquake'. Mark roughly sang the line from Earthquake and Johnny started to dance to his voice.

   This behavior faced criticism on the media and they immediately posted the apology through their instagram story.

Abhigya Anand

  On the other hand, there are some Korean media and youtube channels that addressed what Abhigya Anand highlighted two weeks ago. He mentioned the importance of DEC 14, 2021 to APR 2022 in terms of weather and economy. Some people think he predicted the JEJU earthquake, however, the others think that is just a coincidence and the prediction is too vague.


  Whether his prediction is right or not, one thing that's clear is humans are weak in front of nature. So we need to always pay attention to nature and make the manual for these situations.

Learn KoreanNatural Disaster Vocabulary

Earthquake - 지진 (JiJin)

Typhoon - 태풍 (TaePoong)

Storm - 폭풍 (PokPoong)

Floods - 홍수 (HongSoo)

Tornadoes - 토네이도 (To-Ne-I-Do)

Hurricanes - 허리케인 (Heo-Ri-Ke-in)

Tsunami - 쓰나미 / 해일 (SSeuNaMi / Hae-il)

Volcanic eruption - 화산 폭발 (HwaSan PokBal)

Forest Fire - 산불 (SanBul)