Nine out of 10 South Korean adults are afraid of possible natural disasters, a report by the job portal site Saramin said Monday.

Out of 1,198 adults the Saramin website surveyed, more than 89 percent said they were afraid that a major natural disaster will occur in South Korea.

Furthermore, the survey revealed that 82.5 percent of adults are more frightened at thoughts of possible natural disasters than before ever since the deadly earthquake and tsunami hit Japan two weeks ago.

In the survey, 91.6 percent said Korea is unprepared for a natural disaster. Most adults answered that an earthquake would be the most frightening natural disaster at 43 percent. Second was a tsunami at 28.4 percent. A typhoon was voted third most-frightening at 8.1 percent, followed a volcanic eruption at 6.9 percent. Finally, flooding was picked by 5.3 percent.

When respondents were asked why they were afraid of a natural disaster, 66.4 percent said it was because they cannot predict the time and scale of the attack. More than 53.2 percent said it was because some natural disasters can be life-threatening. More than 51.9 percent said it was because most Korean buildings are vulnerable to earthquakes. The last major reason, at 39.7 percent, was because natural disasters can lead to social chaos such as public violence.

By Moon Ye-bin (yebinm@heraldcorp.com)
Intern reporter

Edited by Rob York