KOREA INSTITUTE OF GEOSCIENCE AND MINERAL RESOURCES

MOU Signing Ceremony between KIGAM Korea-GSJ Japan

Korea Institute Geoscience & Mineral Resources (KIGAM, President Dr. Synn Joong-Ho) and Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ, Director General Dr. Yusaku Yano) signed a MOU for mitigation of earthquake hazards by co-joint R&D of Korea’s southeastern active faults. The MOU signing ceremony was occurred at the at the KIGAM’s Pohang Branch on February 26 2018.

KIGAM is Korea’s unique geoscience R&D institute where it covers all aspects of earth science including earthquakes and mitigation of natural hazards. As the counter partner in Japan, GSJ is an affiliated organization of National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), which is specialized in active fault research and other geological surveys.

This MOU is the follow-up step of the 2016 Letter of Intent, which was about Korea-Japan Joint Fault Surveys and Evaluations Regarding Earthquake Occurrences.

Recently, Korea experienced two major shakes ever happened in Korea for the last century within a year. The first earthquake magnitude 5.8 was in Gyeongju, which is located in southeastern part of Korea. And, the second earthquake magnitude 5.4 was in Pohang, which is very close from the first hit area.

KIGAM Korea-GSJ Japan joint research will serve to look more closely about earthquake occurring active faults and emerging natural hazards in Northeast Asia.