Hundreds evacuate shaking shopping mall in Seoul

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SEOUL, July 5 (Yonhap) -- Hundreds of people evacuated a high-rise shopping mall in Seoul Tuesday morning as it began shaking for unknown reasons, fire authorities said.
Between 300 and 500 people fled the 39-story TechnoMart mall in Seoul's eastern Gwangjin District after the upper part of the building began rocking up and down for about 10 minutes, the authorities said. There were about 3,000 people inside the building at around 10:10 a.m. when it began to move.
"I fled the building with everyone else while it was shaking up and down. It almost made me feel dizzy," said Lim Joon-hee, who works on the 20th floor.
The exact cause of the swaying is not known at this time, the Gwangjin ward office said, adding that it plans to conduct a safety test on the building.
As part of a safety check, district authorities briefly issued an evacuation order, which could last as long as three days.
"We will immediately place the order and conduct a thorough safety examination," a district official said.
The skyscraper accommodates hundreds of retailers selling electronics, houseware products and books, as well as a multiplex and a number of commercial offices.



The swaying was not likely caused by an earthquake, as no signs of a quake were detected at the time of the incident, experts said.
Instead, possible damage in the building's foundation may have led to the rare shaking in a vertical direction, they noted.
"The most likely cause is the unexpected destruction of the foundation or pillars that uphold the weight of the building," said Hong Sung-girl, an architecture professor at Seoul National University.
It could have also been caused by strong vibrations stemming from nearby construction sites where dynamite was possibly used to blow up a building, he said.
According to the Gwangjin District office, the popular shopping mall was given the second-highest rating out of a total of five grades in a comprehensive regulatory safety test conducted in 2008, a decade after the building was built.
The 189-meter-tall high-rise was also cleared in the latest checkup in March, which involved much simpler visual inspections.
pbr@yna.co.kr