ADEN, 31 December 2006 — Yemeni authorities issued a tsunami alert for areas located on its south-eastern coast after a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck in the Gulf of Aden yesterday, government officials said.
The officials told Arab News that the alert was issued as a precautionary move and that the possibility of a tsunami was small.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) Center said in a report posted on its website that the magnitude-6.3 tremor occurred at 11.30 a.m. (0830 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometers. It was centered at sea about 240 kilometers northwest of the Qalansyah island of the Yemeni archipelago of Socotra and about 275 kilometers southeast of the Mukalla port city. No damage was reported from the coastal areas along the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.
Residents of the southern port city of Aden did not feel the tremor. No high tides were seen at the city’s shores.
Yemen’s Public Authority for Geological Survey and Mineral Resources said that another, but smaller, tremor had struck in the southern province of Abyan earlier in the day, causing no damage.
The magnitude 3.5 tremor took place at 8.30 a.m. (0530 GMT) and was centered at the Lawdar district of Abyan, about 270 kilometers east of Aden, the authority said in a statement.
