Anchor: An earthquake occurred in waters off South Korea's southeastern coast Tuesday night. No casualties or property damage were reported but the fifth-largest tremor in the nation since 1978 caused coastal residents to evacuate. As the magnitude five quake was felt about 500 kilometers away in the Seoul metropolitan region, nearly eight-thousand reports were made to authorities by concerned citizens.
Our Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: A five-point-zero-magnitude earthquake occurred in waters off the nation's southeastern coast Tuesday night.

The Korea Meteorological Administration(KMA) said the quake originated from 52 kilometers off the eastern coast of Ulsan at 8:33 p.m. 

The tremor was followed by a two-point-six-magnitude aftershock 41 kilometers off the city some 50 minutes later.

The quake was felt across parts of North and South Gyeongsang provinces and the Seoul metropolitan area over 450 kilometers away from the coastal city. 

No casualties or property damage were reported. But hundreds of coastal residents were seen evacuating from their high-rise residences at night due to the fifth-largest tremor in the nation since 1978 when the government began compiling related data.

[Sound bite: Park Sook-ja - Ulsan city resident (Korean)]
"I felt [the tremor] very much. The floor and the windows were shaking. I've never felt anything like this in my life."

[Sound bite: Kwon Young-jin - Ulsan city resident (Korean)]
"When another tremor came, [I thought] oh! this must be an earthquake. People started to leave the movie theater and we came out too. It was little scary."

Nearly eight-thousand reports were made to authorities by concerned citizens of a country that rarely experiences hard tremors.

Tuesday's earthquake marks the strongest tremor reported in South Korea since 2004 when a five-point-two-magnitude earthquake hit off the nation's east coast.

The South Korean nuclear safety authorities assured that the earthquake caused no damage to the nation's atomic power plants, the closest of which is located only around 50 kilometers from the epicenter. 
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.