ALGIERS, 22 May 2003 — At least 40 people were killed and 300 wounded when an earthquake struck northern Algeria yesterday, Algerian state radio and television said. The epicenter was close to the town of Thenia. The industrial city of Rouiba, east of the capital Algiers, was also affected, the official media said. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was chairing a disaster crisis committee
The earthquake measured 6.7 on the Richter scale. “Families ran out in panic into the streets but we couldn’t see any damage. It lasted for several seconds,” Reuters correspondent Paul de Bendern said from the city. The tall hotel building he was in shook, he added.
The US Geological Survey said it measured 6.7 on the open-ended Richter scale and was the biggest to hit the North African country since 1980, when a much stronger earthquake, measuring 7.7, killed about 5,000 people.
“It is not clear if there is damage,” state radio said, adding that the quake hit the capital and surrounding areas.
Algerian state radio interrupted programs to urge people to leave their homes: “Leave your home, turn off the gas and don’t use elevators. Stay calm.” The US Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center said the epicenter was about 70 km (45 miles) east of Algiers and 10 km (six miles) below ground.
