An earthquake measuring a preliminary 4.5 shook the Eilat area of southern Israel on 11 November, according to the Times of Israel’s live blog. Earlier, the Home Front Command had issued an earthquake warning, and sirens sounded in Eilat and other towns in the Arava, with residents told to move to open areas away from buildings.
The Geological Survey of Israel’s initial assessment, as reported by the Times of Israel, placed the source in the Taba area of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, at a depth of about eight kilometres. The newspaper reported no injuries and no damage.
Ramon Airport, near Eilat, was evacuated and flights were suspended afterwards, the Times of Israel reported. The paper noted that the Home Front Command normally issues earthquake warnings only for tremors above magnitude 4.
The Gulf of Aqaba lies along the Dead Sea Transform, a fault system that runs through the region, and tremors are felt in Eilat from time to time.
Reporting note: The magnitude and depth are preliminary figures from the Geological Survey of Israel as relayed by one outlet, the Times of Israel, and could be revised. We have not seen a separate Egyptian or international seismological bulletin.
Photo: Yonatan Dodin / CC BY 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
