GII director: Friday's earthquake caused damage
Head of seismology division in Geophysical Institute reveals last earthquake to hit Israel damaged buildings in country's north, was followed by several aftershocks. Customary building methods may lead to fatalities in future quakes, he warns
Last Friday's 5.3-magnitude earthquake was followed by several aftershocks, the director of the Seismology Division in the Geophysical Institute of Israel (GII) revealed Monday.
According to Dr. Rami Hofstetter, the aftershocks measures 2-2.5 on the Richter Scale and were to be expected, since medium to large quakes are often followed by aftershocks.
"I can't negate the possibility that this earthquake preceded a larger one, but (according to noted seismic activity) things look like they're calming down," said Hofstetter, who was invited to speak before Knesset members; adding that Friday's earthquake damaged several buildings in the northern Israeli cities of Haifa, Nahariya and Horafish.
GII experts, he said, have been inspecting the stability of buildings throughout Israel and have found that the foundations of many have been laid atop the softer layer of soil above bedrock level.
Such building methods can contribute to earthquake vibration being carried throughout the structure, which may lead to a greater number of injuries and fatalities.
The GII has assembled a team of some of the leading world experts to perform the necessary groundwork which will better Israel's readiness for a major earthquake, said Hofstetter.
Furthermore, the Geophysical Institute is planning to issue a bid for the operation of state-of-the-art monitoring devices which can alert of a coming quake within 10 seconds – enough time to take a number of critical preemptive measures such as cutting of gas and power supplies.
