(LEAD) 2.6 magnitude earthquake strikes southeastern county of Chilgok

A 2.6 magnitude earthquake struck the southeastern county of Chilgok on Monday, but there have been no reports of damage, officials said. The quake occurred about 5 kilometers west of Chilgok, about 215 km southeast of Seoul, at 7:47 a.m., according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). The epicenter was at a latitude of 36 degrees north and a longitude of 128.35 degrees east at a depth of 6 km. It was the sixth-strongest quake to occur on the Korean Peninsula so far this year, and its depth was the shallowest among the 18 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or more that hit the country in 2024. The seismic intensity scale measuring the severity of ground shaking was 4 in North Gyeongsang Province, strong enough to be felt by many people indoors and waking some people up from sleep, and 2 in South Gyeongsang Province and North Chungcheong Province, just enough to slightly shake hanging objects. Fire authorities said they had received 32 reports of shaking as of around 8 a.m., including 30 re ports in North Gyeongsang Province and two in the southeastern city of Daegu, but no damage has been reported so far. A KMA official said earthquakes usually occur at a depth of 5 to 15 km, adding the seismic intensity level can rise if the depth is shallow. Source: Yonhap News Agency