▲ Earthquake in Venezuela
"I think it shook more violently than during the Great East Japan Earthquake. It swayed heavily from side to side."
Lee Han-sang, Deputy Chief of Mission at the South Korean Embassy in Venezuela, who is overseeing the safety of Korean residents, recalled the terrifying moments of the consecutive strong earthquakes on June 24 (local time).
Lee was at the official residence when the series of earthquakes, exceeding magnitude 7.0, struck around 6:04 p.m. on June 24 (local time).
It happened to be a public holiday.
It was the "Battle of Carabobo Day," which commemorates the military victory that solidified independence from the Spanish Empire.
As he was spending time with his family at the residence, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck, followed just 39 seconds later by an even stronger magnitude 7.5 main shock.
The horizontal shaking was sheer terror.
In a phone call on June 25, he recounted, "I was working in Tokyo during the Great East Japan Earthquake. In terms of what I felt, this earthquake seemed to shake more violently than that one."
While the energy released by the magnitude 9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake was far greater than the magnitude 7.5 Caracas earthquake, the distance to the epicenter was much closer in Caracas.
The distance from Tokyo to the epicenter was around 380 km, roughly the distance between Seoul and Busan, but the distance from Caracas to the epicenter was about 168 km, less than half of that.
Lee explained, "The Great East Japan Earthquake, at magnitude 9.0, must have had more intense shaking, but perhaps due to differences in building structures, such as disaster-resistant design, the Venezuela earthquake felt more intense."
The actual physical damage was also significant.
The embassy residence left in the wake of the earthquake was in shambles.
Some bricks had collapsed, and the vertical pillars at the main gate were cracked.
Large cracks appeared on the walls.
The residence was hit hard as it was located not far from the Altamira district in the north, where damage in Caracas was concentrated.
The embassy office nearby also suffered numerous damages.
The South Korean Embassy in Venezuela is located inside a commercial complex building, where parts of the hallway ceiling collapsed, windows shattered, and tiles were broken.
Currently, internet connectivity is unstable due to local communication issues.
Lee noted, "If it had been during weekday working hours, someone could have been injured."
Although the embassy and the residence sustained significant damage, fortunately, Korean residents were unharmed.
This is because the ground in the Baruta district, south of Caracas, where many Koreans live, is very solid.
Regarding the atmosphere among local residents, Lee said, "Perhaps because they have experienced many shocking events since the U.S. apprehension of Maduro, the residents are dealing with the situation calmly, without showing much surprise even after experiencing such a large earthquake."
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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