Earthquakes hit Lake Tiberias, Dead Sea area

AMMAN — Five earthquakes struck Lake Tiberias and the Dead Sea area early on Wednesday, with the strongest measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale, according to the Jordan Seismological Observatory (JSO).

JSO Director Mahmoud Qaryouti told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that four tremors hit the Dead Sea area, with the strongest hitting at 5:38am and measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale at a depth of 11 kilometres. Three other quakes measured 2 on the Richter scale.

The fifth tremor, which hit Lake Tiberias, Qaryouti said measured 2.6 on the Richter scale and was registered at a depth of 5 kilometres, Petra reported. 

On July 5, the JSO registered several earthquakes in the Lake Tiberias area, with the strongest measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale, which was felt by residents of Amman and Zarqa.

In late November 2016, the JSO recorded an earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale, which struck an area 100 kilometres away from the southern city of Aqaba.

An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, followed by four aftershocks, struck Aqaba on May 16, 2016, and no casualties or damage were reported.

Over the past 100 years, Jordan has witnessed two strong earthquakes: The first was in 1927 in Jericho, Palestine, which measured 6.3 on the Richter scale. The second was in 1995 in Aqaba, measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, the JSO director said in previous remarks. 

Jordan is located along the Syrian-African fault line, which runs along the western border, and is a part of the Great Rift Valley. The valley is approximately 6,000 kilometres in length, and stretches from Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley in Asia, to Mozambique in south-eastern Africa.