Seoul would take the brunt of the casualties with 7,394 dead, nearly 100,000 injured and more than 90,000 made homeless.

According to the report submitted to Rep. Park Dae-hae of the Grand National Party, the damage to buildings would be widespread as well, stretching far beyond the metropolitan areas to affect buildings in Daejeon and parts of North Chungcheong and Gyeongsang provinces.

The report estimated that more than 27,000 buildings would be completely destroyed, and more than 550,000 buildings partially destroyed or damaged.

It also projected the extent of damage that could be caused should a quake of the same magnitude happen in Daejeon, located in the center of Korea.

While the number of casualties would be greatly reduced, with just over 5,500, the extent of the damage would be visible throughout the country hitting 13 of the metropolitan cities and provinces, excluding Busan, Ulsan and Jeju Province.

The NEMA report was based on data produced from a simulation of a 6.5 magnitude earthquake, considering the characteristics and the distance of the peninsula from the nearest fault line ― a 40,000-km circum-Pacific earthquake belt which runs along the edge of the Pacific Plate.

“Recently, there are growing concerns that the Korean Peninsula is not an earthquake-proof area,” GNP lawmaker Park said.

“In order to minimize the extent of earthquake damages, we need to mandate the use of earthquake-resistant designs even for low-rise buildings.”

Korea has seen five quakes exceeding a magnitude of 5 since 1978, when the Korea Meteorological Administration began recording seismic activity.

In February 2010, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit China’s Jilin Province near Mount Baekdu.

In Christchurch, New Zealand, with a population of about 348,000, over 148 people died and the area suffered $15 billion in damage after a 6.3 magnitude quake hit on Feb. 22.

By Robert Lee (rjmlee@heraldcorp.com)