Minor earthquake felt in northern Israel
Epicenter of 3.8 tremor located some 5 km from Sea of Galilee; no injuries or damage reported
A minor earthquake struck northern Israel early Friday morning, registering a magnitude of just 3.8 on the Richter scale.
The temblor hit at around 6:35 a.m., with the epicenter some five kilometers north of the Sea of Galilee, near the city of Tiberias, the Geological Survey of Israel said.
No damage or injuries were reported.
Last week there was a 3.6 magnitude quake in the north of the country, with its epicenter in Lebanon. There were no damage or injuries reported in Israel, nor any immediate reports of harm from Lebanese media.
On Tuesday, a minor earthquake was recorded in Eilat, causing no injuries or damage. The quake measured 4.4 on the Richter Scale, according to the US Geological Survey, and was centered some eight kilometers (five miles) west of the town of Dahab in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
At the beginning of November, experts warned a Knesset committee that the country is not prepared for the thousands of deaths and hundreds of billions of shekels in damage which could occur in the event of a major earthquake in the region.
The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s Home-Front Readiness Subcommittee met to discuss Israel’s earthquake readiness, based on an assessment that in the event of such a catastrophe the country could face up to 7,000 casualties and damages of up to NIS 200 billion ($52.5 billion).
The Times of Israel Community.