JEDDAH:A moderate earthquake measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale hit Al-Ais village, 150 km northeast of Yanbu, on Wednesday morning, sending shock waves among the residents.
Zuhair Nawab, president of the Saudi Geological Survey, downplayed its impact, saying “there is nothing to worry.” According to SGS, the tremor occurred at 11:32 a.m. local time.
He said some 20 to 30 tremors take place in the area every year without being felt by residents.
Lt. Col. Bandar Al-Ahmary, spokesman for Civil Defense in Madinah, said the department had not received any calls about human casualties or damages caused by the quake.
However, an informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat that one man was injured by the quake that had frightened the residents.
In May 2009, Al-Ais witnessed a series of tremors, which forced the government to evacuate people from the village and accommodate them in hotels and furnished apartments in safe areas.
Hani Zahran, director of the National Center for Earthquakes and Volcanoes, estimated the total number of tremors that occurred in Al-Ais during that period at 1,600, with a maximum magnitude of 3.7.
He said Wednesday’s tremor had not damaged any house or building in Al-Ais. “Our center observes now 20 to 30 tremors daily in the area. Previously the number was more than that. This shows seismic situation in Al-Ais has returned to satisfactory levels.”
Zahran said the Al-Ais tremor had nothing to do with the earthquake that occurred in Iran. Some reports on websites had linked the tremor with that of the Iranian earthquake.
A moderate earthquake shook northwestern Iran Wednesday near the borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan, injuring at least 50 people. It comes three months after a larger quake killed more than 300 people in the same region.
The 5.1-magnitude earthquake at 09:56 a.m. local time (0626 GMT) was centered in northwestern Iran about 10 km from the city of Varzaghan, the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It struck about 19 km (11.8 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to Iran's Seismological Center.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), which measured the strength of the earthquake at a body wave magnitude of 5.5, said some 16,000 people near the epicenter could have perceived moderate tremors while as many as 2.6 million may have felt light to moderate shaking.
New wave of tremors jolts Al-Ais
