Two minor earthquakes were felt in northern Israel over the span of a few hours, joining a string of tremors to hit the area over the past month.
The Seismology division at the Geological Survey said the quake registered a 3.5 magnitude on the Richter scale around 9pm Tuesday. Its epicenter was located in neighboring Jordan, 15 kilometers (9 miles) northeast of Beit She'an
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Seismic waves are seen on a screen during a demonstration of a new earthquake early warning system which triggers sirens if a nationwide network of 120 seismic monitoring stations detects a strong earthquake, at the Geological Survey of Israel in Jerusalem, February 7, 2022
(Photo: Reuters)
A second 3.1 magnitude tremblor was recorded in the same area fewer than ten hours later.
"I was sitting on the couch and suddenly it started shaking," Silvi Sklar, a resident of Kibbutz Tel Yosef in northern Israel, told Ynet. "I literally jumped, it was very scary."
Israel Police said it received dozens of calls regarding the quake but there were no reports of injuries or damage. There was no tsunami warning either.
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A worker demonstrates a new earthquake early warning system which triggers sirens if a nationwide network of 120 seismic monitoring stations detects a strong earthquake at the Geological Survey of Israel in Jerusalem, February 7, 2022
(Photo: Reuters)
The Home Front Command — a military arm in charge of assisting the civilian population in times of crisis — reported that the national warning system did not go off since the shock was minor and non-life-threatening.
This is the second time in less than a month that two successive earthquakes rattle northern Israel in just a few hours, on top of several more tremors to hit neighboring Cyprus which were also felt around parts of the country.
Geological experts have long warned that a mega quake could jar Israel any time on account of its location along the Great Rift Valley — a particularly active fault line. Major earthquakes in the area happen on average once every 80 years, though the last occurred over a century ago.
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Massive crack appears along a residential building's facade in Haifa following an earthquake, July 4, 2018
(Photo: S Yeshua)
Geological experts warned that close to a million buildings in Israel are in danger of collapsing if such a devastating tremor does hit, potentially causing countless casualties and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless across the country.
"The residents living along the Great Rift Valley are located in the most problematic point in Israel and have been simply left to their own devices," said Idan Greenbaum, head of the Emek HaYarden Regional Council in northern Israel.
"When the mega quake comes, and unfortunately history shows that it will come, none of the decision-makers will be able to say they were caught by surprise and that the writing wasn't on the wall. There is no real strategy or plan for reinforcing buildings. It's the 11th hour, and it's time to wake up."