UAE records minor earthquake ‘felt by residents’

The quake at 11.01pm was of 2.8 magnitude on Richter scale

Published: Mon 8 Jan 2024, 11:58 PM

Updated: Tue 9 Jan 2024, 8:05 AM

By
Web Desk

A minor earthquake of 2.8 magnitude on Richter scale was recorded in the UAE late on Monday night, the National Centre for Meteorology (NCM) has said.

According to a post by the NCM on social media platform X, as per the National Seismic Network, the earthquake was recorded in Masafi at 11.01pm.

The NCM said the the tremor was slightly felt by residents, but without any effect.

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'Nothing to worry about'

Khalifa Al Ebri, Director Department of Seismology, National Center of Meteorology (NCM), told Khaleej Times last year that since the UAE falls under low to moderate seismicity, there is no cause for worry among people living in this country.

"The UAE has low to moderate seismicity; hence we are safe. We are not on the active seismic belt," he said. "We have frequent tremors ranging from two to three in a year. People do not feel most of these tremors and they are just detected by the sensors. All these tremors do not affect the buildings or the infrastructure (in the country)."

Al Ebri explains that the country is located on the Arabian Tectonic Plate, which pushes against the Eurasian Plate. The boundary of those plates – the Zagros mountain belt – is one of the most seismically active regions in the world; therefore, the country sometimes experiences tremors without any effect.

NCM publishes local, regional, and strong global earthquake reports to provide the UAE and foreign societies with the latest data, as most people have families and friends in other countries and wish to know about their whereabouts in case of earthquakes. People with NCM smart application can see the latest data on earthquakes or tremors everywhere, as it has specialists and seismologists who analyse the data 24/7.

(With inputs from Nandini Sircar)

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