Late Warning Message

[Anchor Lead]

Sunday’s tremor was registered at 5:03 a.m., but the emergency disaster text message arrived 7 minutes later at 5:10. In this case it appears that the Korea Meteorological Administration's early warning plan was not executed properly.

[Pkg]

A strong aftershock again rocked the Pohang area. Yesterday's aftershock was the strongest since a 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit the region three months ago in November. In the Gyeongsangbuk-do region close to the epicenter, an intensity 5 tremor was felt and the shaking was felt even in Gyeongsangnam-do Province farther south.

[Soundbite] Woo Nam-cheol(Korea Meteorological Administration) : "An intensity 5 means the tremor is strong enough to wake people up and throw down items from shelves and bookcases."

Roughly 90 aftershocks stronger than 2.0 magnitude took place so far. But, they've become more sporadic in the new year. However, yesterday's aftershock was the biggest one yet and a total surprise. 33 aftershocks occurred on the day of the main quake last year, and 67 were recorded over the next 15 days. Only one aftershock was registered in January, but the situation is growing more serious since yesterday's tremor.

[Soundbite] Prof. Hong Tae-kyung(Yonsei Univ.) : "Stress has been accumulating since the main earthquake. This 4.6-magnitude aftershock seems to have occurred as the accumulated stress erupted along the fault planes that didn't break the last time."

Amid the concerns that aftershocks as strong as yesterday's can occur anytime, people are blasting the government for sending out emergency disaster text messages seven minutes too late. Since prompt communication of disaster information is paramount, the emergency message transmission system must be maintained properly to prevent any more system errors.