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Eathquake Trends

  • Since 1978, when full scale seismic observation was first started, a total of 2,206 earthquakes have occurred in and around the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula(about 48 times per year) The earthquakes that magnitude is equal to or greater than 3.0, which is generally able to be sensed by ordinary people, have occurred about 10 times per year.
  • In this period, the activity of earthquakes in Korea was relatively high from '78 to '82, rather quiescent from '83 to '91, and the trend has been active again from '92 to present.

Number of earthquakes

This is a table that allows you to check information on earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more that occurred in Korea by year.
Year Magnitude 3 or higher Number of earthquake detection Total Number (Magnitude 2 or higher)
1978 5 5 6
1979 17 8 22
1980 6 1 16
1981 10 3 15
1982 11 8 13
1983 10 4 20
1984 7 2 19
1985 11 6 26
1986 12 9 15
1987 4 5 11
1988 4 1 6
1989 13 4 16
1990 3 4 15
1991 7 8 19
1992 7 5 15
1993 7 4 22
1994 11 8 24
1995 11 8 29
1996 14 13 39
1997 8 8 21
1998 7 9 32
1999 16 22 37
2000 8 5 29
2001 7 6 41
2002 11 9 49
2003 9 12 38
2004 6 10 42
2005 15 6 37
2006 7 7 50
2007 2 5 42
2008 10 7 46
2009 10 10 60
2010 5 5 42
2011 14 7 52
2012 9 4 56
2013 18 15 93
2014 8 11 49
2015 5 7 44
2016 34 55 252
2017 19 98 223
2018 5 33 115
2019 14 16 88
2020 5 17 68
2021 5 15 70
2022 8 13 77
2023 16 18 105

Earthquake Status by Magnitude

Table for verifying the total number of occurrences according to earthquake magnitude per year
Year 2.0≤M<3.0 3.0≤M<4.0 4.0≤M<5.0 5.0≤M Total
1978 1 1 2 2 6
1979 5 16 1 0 22
1980 10 5 0 1 16
1981 5 9 1 0 15
1982 2 8 3 0 13
1983 10 9 1 0 20
1984 12 7 0 0 19
1985 15 9 2 0 26
1986 3 12 0 0 15
1987 7 3 1 0 11
1988 2 4 0 0 6
1989 3 13 0 0 16
1990 12 3 0 0 15
1991 12 7 0 0 19
1992 8 4 3 0 15
1993 15 6 1 0 22
1994 13 7 4 0 24
1995 18 10 1 0 29
1996 25 12 2 0 39
1997 13 7 1 0 21
1998 25 6 1 0 32
1999 21 15 1 0 37
2000 21 8 0 0 29
2001 34 6 1 0 41
2002 38 10 1 0 49
2003 29 6 2 1 38
2004 36 5 0 1 42
2005 22 14 1 0 37
2006 43 7 0 0 50
2007 40 1 1 0 42
2008 36 9 1 0 46
2009 50 9 1 0 60
2010 37 5 0 0 42
2011 38 13 1 0 52
2012 47 9 0 0 56
2013 75 15 3 0 93
2014 41 7 0 1 49
2015 39 5 0 0 44
2016 218 30 1 3 252
2017 204 17 1 1 223
2018 110 4 1 0 115
2019 74 12 2 0 88
2020 63 5 0 0 68
2021 65 3 2 0 70
2022 69 7 1 0 77
2023 89 14 2 0 105
Epicenter Distribution Map
Epicenter Distribution Map
The number of earthquake observations in Korea shows a rapid increase since the mid-1990s, when the earthquake observation technology began to modernize along with the increase of the earthquake observation network as a graph of the domestic earthquake occurrence trend by year. No significant change was observed in the number of earthquakes (approximately 9 times per year).
Graph of domestic earthquake occurrence trend by year