Residents of Pohang to sue gov't over 'man-made' Pohang earthquake
- 5 years ago
포항시민 "지진 원인 밝혀져 다행"…손해배상 줄 소송 예고
Yesterday, investigators confirmed the 2017 earthquake in Pohang was NOT natural..., but "man-made".
Today, residents of the port city have pledged to sue the government.
Cha Sang-mi zooms in on their response.
It took over a year to find out that South Korea's second largest earthquake on record that shook the port city of Pohang... some 370 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was not natural but man-made.
Following revelations on Wednesday that the quake... of magnitude 5-point-4... was triggered by excavations at a local geothermal power plant, local residents voiced their anger over great mental distress it had caused them.
The mayor of Pohang, in a press briefing Thursday, cited the thousands of homes damaged and the dozens of people injured... as he called for a prompt response from the government.
He said the city has suffered a decline in population, residents are living with trauma and the city's brand image has been tarnished -- none of which can be put to a dollar amount.
"Please, we ask you to act speedily to address the property damage and mental anguish sustained by our city's residents. We also urge you to completely shut down the geothermal plant and restore the site to its original state."
One estimate put the damage at nearly 75 million U.S. dollars.
A Pohang civic group has already pledged to sue the government.
"We have already filed a lawsuit for damages from the Pohang earthquakes. We're suing as a group... of one-thousand-300 residents of Pohang. And I expect the number of litigants will dramatically increase starting today."
Meanwhile, Professor Song Se-ryun says that the suit is still in its initial stage -- they'll have to jump through several hoops to make it an actionable claim.
"We see this kind of action from time to time whenever there is a claim that either earthquake or accident has been caused by either neglect or lack of supervision from governmental agencies or responsible bodies. I think it is too early to say this is an actionable claim, or legally significant."
He says that they will need to have a sufficient number of people who share the claim, but the most important thing is causality and the damage itself.
But too much time has passed to investigate the damage now, so they might only be able to talk about their pain and suffering.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.
Yesterday, investigators confirmed the 2017 earthquake in Pohang was NOT natural..., but "man-made".
Today, residents of the port city have pledged to sue the government.
Cha Sang-mi zooms in on their response.
It took over a year to find out that South Korea's second largest earthquake on record that shook the port city of Pohang... some 370 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was not natural but man-made.
Following revelations on Wednesday that the quake... of magnitude 5-point-4... was triggered by excavations at a local geothermal power plant, local residents voiced their anger over great mental distress it had caused them.
The mayor of Pohang, in a press briefing Thursday, cited the thousands of homes damaged and the dozens of people injured... as he called for a prompt response from the government.
He said the city has suffered a decline in population, residents are living with trauma and the city's brand image has been tarnished -- none of which can be put to a dollar amount.
"Please, we ask you to act speedily to address the property damage and mental anguish sustained by our city's residents. We also urge you to completely shut down the geothermal plant and restore the site to its original state."
One estimate put the damage at nearly 75 million U.S. dollars.
A Pohang civic group has already pledged to sue the government.
"We have already filed a lawsuit for damages from the Pohang earthquakes. We're suing as a group... of one-thousand-300 residents of Pohang. And I expect the number of litigants will dramatically increase starting today."
Meanwhile, Professor Song Se-ryun says that the suit is still in its initial stage -- they'll have to jump through several hoops to make it an actionable claim.
"We see this kind of action from time to time whenever there is a claim that either earthquake or accident has been caused by either neglect or lack of supervision from governmental agencies or responsible bodies. I think it is too early to say this is an actionable claim, or legally significant."
He says that they will need to have a sufficient number of people who share the claim, but the most important thing is causality and the damage itself.
But too much time has passed to investigate the damage now, so they might only be able to talk about their pain and suffering.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.