Magnitude 2.8 earthquake in Okcheon rattles residents

Emergency calls flooded in following a magnitude 2.8 earthquake that was detected in Okcheon, North Chungcheong Province on Sunday afternoon.

The Korea Meteorological Administration confirmed that the magnitude 2.8 tremor occured some 8 kilometers north-north-east of Okcheon county at 6:50 p.m.

There was no damage reported or confirmed, KMA added.

(Yonhap)

But reports of residents having felt the tremor poured in.

"I was at my office on the second floor when I felt the shake for four to five seconds," a public office worker who was at a location 10 kilometers away from the seismic center said.

Some 200 calls were made to the Chungbuk Fire Department and 150 to Daejeon Fire Department inquiring about the quake, according to the authorities.

South Korea has been experiencing an increased number of earthquakes in recent years, the latest being the rare 5.5 magnitude earthquake in Pohang last November. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)