Another 'Ring of Fire' Quake... 'Catastrophe' Despite 110km Focal Depth

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[Anchor]

The location of this earthquake is the Ring of Fire, a region where global seismic and volcanic activities are concentrated. Notably, this comes just about a month after a powerful earthquake claimed thousands of lives in neighboring Venezuela. Attention is drawing to whether there is any connection between the two major earthquakes.

Reporter Gwak Sang-eun takes a closer look.

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[Reporter]

The origin of this earthquake is 110 kilometers underground in the Chocó Department along the western coast of Colombia.

It belongs to the Pacific Ring of Fire, where 90 percent of the world's earthquakes and volcanic activities are concentrated.

Experts explain that because it is a boundary where the oceanic Nazca Plate beneath the Pacific dives beneath the South American continental plate, accumulated energy erupted all at once, generating powerful seismic waves.

[Rodrigo Alejandro León Roya / Seismologist, University of the Andes : Colombia is full of active faults, and the phenomenon of one crustal plate diving beneath another continues.]

Although the hypocenter was deep at 110 kilometers underground, the magnitude 7-plus strong earthquake had a destructive force comparable to hundreds of atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima in the past, transmitting massive shockwaves to the surface.

[Susan Hough / Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey : About 1.5 million people experienced estimated shaking of intensity 7, which is strong enough to cause damage.]

Just a month and a half ago, back-to-back strong earthquakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 struck neighboring Venezuela, killing more than 6,000 people. General analysis suggests that the direct connection between the two earthquakes is not significant, as their epicenters are 1,060 kilometers apart and they occurred on different plate boundaries.

However, it is difficult to completely rule out the possibility that the force at the plate boundaries accumulated by the Venezuelan earthquake stimulated other surrounding faults, leading to this tremor.

Amid successive major earthquake damages, Latin American countries such as Chile, Mexico, and El Salvador, along with the United States, have promised rescue and medical support, and Venezuela—which has yet to recover from its own earthquake damage—also expressed its willingness to provide assistance.

(Video Editing: Cho Mu-hwan, Design: Kang Yun-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.