Israeli earthquake-protection table. Photo by Oded Antman
A mild earthquake hit northern Israel on Tuesday, marking the fifth quake in a week to hit areas near the Kinneret.
The earthquake hit the north-western part of the Kinneret at 8:50 A.M. local time and registered a magnitude of 3.3 on the Richter scale.
On Sunday, two earthquakes rocked the Kinneret at a magnitude of 3.6 on the Richter scale.
The first earthquake on Sunday happened around noon. As in the two previous earthquakes, no damage was reported. It isn't clear what the recent string of quakes means in terms of future seismic events.
Early in the morning on Saturday, at 2:30 A.M., another mild earthquake also with a 3.6 magnitude was recorded. According to the geophysical institute, the earthquake's epicenter was nearby, in the area between the Hula Nature Reserve and the Sea of Galilee.
Last week, an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.5 was recorded in roughly the same place as Sunday's earthquake.
"There were similar cases in the past in which a number of earthquakes clustered around the same time and place, among other cases in Lebanon and the Gilboa," said Dr. Uri Friedlander the head of the Israel Geophysical Institute Sunday. "The truth is we don't know what this recent string means."
The Kinneret is located on the seismically-active Great Syria-African Rift. In a number of cases in the past, the area saw devastating earthquakes with a magnitude of 6 and upward. Sometimes, a series of earthquakes could mean the release of energy that had built up in the earth and thus would mean that there is less of a chance of a devastating earthquake taking place in the near future, but it isn't clear that this is the case here.
The last devastating earthquake in Israel took place in 1927. It had a magnitude of 6.2 and its epicenter was in the Dead Sea. 300 people perished.
No comments:
Post a Comment