An erase operation of a memory apparatus is controlled by, inter alia, selecting one or more memory cell blocks to be erased among a plurality of memory cell blocks, performing an erase operation on the selected one or more memory cell blocks in response to an erase command, performing a first soft program operation on the selected one or more memory cell blocks if the erase operation is determined as passed, and performing a second soft program operation on the selected one or more memory cell blocks if the first soft program operation is determined as passed.