Postechian Column: Without THIS, You Could Lose Your Life
Postechian Column: Without THIS, You Could Lose Your Life
  • Kim Hyun-ho (CHEM 13)
  • 승인 2016.09.28 22:29
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Yet, I am waiting for Cell Broadcasting Service (CBS). Current time is 11:50 p.m. Three hours have passed since the earthquake with magnitude of 4.5 occurred. We were shivering in anxiety right after the earthquake. One week has passed since the earthquake with magnitude of 5.8, which is the greatest magnitude over all time, broke in Korea. During this week, professionals detected almost 400 aftershocks. This is one of the most unpredictable and long-lasting disasters that have ever happened in South Korea. What damages did we have? How did we cope with them?
First of all, damages in POSTECH were not so serious. However, we could not neglect them. The first earthquake happened in Sep. 12 caused cracks of doors and collapses of ceilings in 20th dormitory. If there was a student below the broken ceiling, he or she could have injured head. Thankfully, it was not so serious. Nevertheless, serious problems ensued in Sep. 19. Earthquake with magnitude of 4.5 was much weaker than the previous one. Still, it was great enough to damage the building with cracks from the previous earthquakes. In fact, ceilings in viliage IV broke down in large scale. Bigger problem showed up before we could repair the building.
Fortunately, there are no dead or injured people in current state. It was very lucky that nobody was below the broken ceilings or fallen things. Even so, when there are about 400 aftershocks, we cannot guarantee our safety. Damaged buildings may cause bigger problems with even weaker earthquakes or other disasters like typhoons. As people say ad nauseam, South Korea is not in the safety zone anymore. Together with the earthquakes, floods recently happened in North Korea also proves this.
In this emergent situation, our response was so ‘amateur.’ Above all, government announced its official position only after two hours and 47 minutes have passed. The absence of control tower that was once issued in the incidence of Sewol ferry disaster has raised again. Also, some students did not get CBS. The government showed complacent attitude.
Unlike the government, students coped with the situation fairly well. There were not much students who escaped the buildings when the first earthquake occurred. However, when the bigger one broke out, all the students evacuated Residential College and waited in the nearest parking lot. Moreover, they did the same when earthquake happened in Sep. 19. It was laudable that they dealt with emergent situation without any correct guidelines. ‘Absence of guideline’ is still a big problem. Although earthquake was not so common before, there should be accurate guidelines in case these disasters occur again in the future.