Magnitude 5.4 Pohang earthquake strikes South Korea in November 2017

On 15 November 2017, a magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck the city of Pohang, in North Gyeongsang Province on South Korea's southeastern coast. It was the second strongest quake recorded in the country since modern instrumental monitoring began, after the magnitude 5.8 Gyeongju quake of September 2016.

The tremor injured dozens of people and damaged many buildings, especially low-rise homes and pilotis-style structures, which stand on ground-floor pillars. Thousands of residents were displaced and spent days in temporary shelters such as gymnasiums. The national university entrance exam was postponed by a week, an unprecedented step that showed how far the disruption reached.

The quake mattered because it showed that Korea's buildings and infrastructure were less prepared than assumed. Later research linked it to a nearby geothermal power project, which raised debate about induced seismicity. The government responded by widening seismic design requirements for buildings and public facilities and by reviewing the earthquake resistance of existing structures. Those reviews underpin later assessments of key infrastructure, including airports.