Getty Koreans are worried the increase in quakes could cause a nuclear accident like that in Fukushima

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South Korea experienced its most powerful earthquake on Monday evening since records in the country started in 1978, prompting concerns over the safety of nuclear plants clustered in the quake-prone southeast after a tsunami hit a nuclear power plant in Japan's Fukushima, on the other side of the Sea of Japan in 2011. Two earthquakes, measuring 5.1 and 5.8 on the richter scale, occurred near the city of Gyeongju and could be felt in the capital, Seoul, more than 186miles (300km) to the northwest. There were more than 40 aftershocks in the hours after the initial tremors.

When I heard the news, the first thing that came to my mind was that a Fukushima-like accident could happen Byun Woo-hee

Fourteen people were injured but there were no reports of serious damage, a Ministry of Public Safety and Security official said. Experts are now warning recent earthquakes in nearby Japan have caused serious destabilisation to Korean fault lines, heightening fears the peninsula is no longer a "safe zone".

Getty Monday's earthquake did not do too much damage, despite it being the worst recorded

Despite no reports of serious damage from Monday's quakes Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co shut down four nuclear reactors at the Wolsong complex in Gyeongju as a precaution. Koreans living near the nuclear power plant in Gyeongju city are becoming increasingly anxious following the earthquakes. Byun Woo-hee, a 59-year-old professor, said: "When I heard the news, the first thing that came to my mind was that a Fukushima-like accident could happen."

Geologists have said the seismic activity which Japan has been experiencing for years is now passing over to the Korean Peninsula. South Korea's reactors are designed to withstand a magnitude 6.5 or 7.0 earthquake, according to the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission. Orders were given to nuclear operators to upgrade old reactors to that standard after the disaster at Japan's tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011.

Getty Workers at the Fukushima plant are still trying to decontaminate the area

Getty Houses in the area around Fukushima were obliterated

Shim Eun-jung, a spokeswoman at the nuclear watchdog, said: "That will be completed by next year." South Korea's 25 reactors supply about one-third of its electricity and make it the world's fifth-largest user of nuclear power. The Government plans to add nine more nuclear plants by 2027, according to the nuclear watchdog.

South Korea prepares for WAR in test-fire exhibition Tue, September 6, 2016 South Korea have shown the world it's ready for war as Kim Jong Un marches towards nuclear apocalypse. South Korea put its latest high-tech weapons systems on show as tensions rise in the region following Pyongyang's test-firing of three missiles this week Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 10 A South Korean K1A2 tank fires during a live fire demonstration for a media preview of the Defense Expo Korea 2016 at the Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, 65 kms northeast of Seoul, on September 6, 2016

As in many countries, nuclear power is controversial in South Korea, especially after a 2012 scandal over parts being supplied with fake certificates prompted shutdowns. Park Jong-kwon, head of an anti-nuclear civic group in South Gyeongsang Province, said no more nuclear reactors should be built in southeastern cities like Ulsan and Gyeongju as they are close to an active fault line. Park said: "Even though nuclear reactors are designed to withstand anearthquake of a magnitude 7.0, if they are hit by 4.5 and 5.8 magnitude earthquakes several times, they can be knocked down by a real 7.0 magnitude earthquake at a single blow."