An earthquake of magnitude 5.0 rattled parts of Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories Wednesday morning, shaking Amman, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Gaza for several seconds. Some buildings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were evacuated in fear they will collapse, ynet reported.
In the city of Bethlehem, a girl was lightly injured after a wall collapsed as a result of the earthquake.
Jordan's minister of energy and mineral resources, Azmi Khreisat said that many light earthquakes started in the
early hours of the morning but the strongest took place at 10:14 in local time. A source at the ministry told Petra news agency that subsequent light earthquakes
are expected but citizens might not feel them.
Reports said quake's epicenter was the Dead Sea. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, the earthquakes are associated with the northward movement of the Arabian plate. On 22 November 1995, a magnitude M-7.2 earthquake took place in the central Gulf of Aqaba area causing damage in nearby communities in Jordan, Egypt, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. An aftershock sequence lasted for more than 1 year with numerous shocks exceeding M-5.0.
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
