Earthquake Hits Israel

By Israel News Agency Staff

Jerusalem----February 11......An earthquake, measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, shook buildings in Israel at 10:15 a.m. this morning. The tremor lasted 25 seconds.

Israeli authoritues have stated that aftershocks are to be expected from the quake.

Emergency services Magen David Adom said they had no immediate reports of any wounded in the tremor.

Several people were hospitalized in Israeli hospitals for stress-related symptoms.
People evacuated homes and offices in cities across the region. Hundreds of people were seen rushing to the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The quake was felt as far away as Beirut.

Israel Radio reported that residents in various cities have called in saying some buildings have collapsed, but these reportes have not been confirmed.

An official at the Seismology Division of the Israeli Geophysical Institute told the Israel News Agency that the center of the earthquake was in the Northern Dead Sea region and measured 5 on the Richter scale.

The last earthquake registered in the region was on December 31st 2003 at 10:44 PM, measured 3.7 and was centered at Kibbutz Ein Gedi, near the Dead Sea.

The tremor was felt in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Kiryat Shmona, Arad, Kfar Sava, Hadera and the Dead Sea.

Police report many calls from worried residents, but no injuries have been reported.

Infrastructure Miister Yosef Paritzky said that institutes had been waiting for an earthquake from the northern Dead Sea region, but added that if this was "the one they have been waiting for, we have just witnessed a miracle."

Paritzky said all communications and electricty centers are operating normally.

At the Knesset, lawmakers sitting in committee meetings feared a large bomb had gone off, Israel Army radio reported.

Israeli lawmakers were seen on Israeli TV calmly looking around and staring at the ceiling of the Knesset building.

A crack developed in the decorative ceiling above the minister's table, and plenum meetings have been postponed pending engineering examinations.

The ceiling above the exit to the Prime Minister's office has developed a crack, and an engineering crew inspected the glass partition at the visitor's gallery.

For information regarding Israeli citizens response to emergency situations in Israel - please go here: http://www.idf.il/homefront/english/ie- index03.stm

Israeli Internet chat forums came alive with people asking if it was really an earthquake and shared emergency information within their cities. A few Israeli Internet writers responded that it was a "great way to start their day, better than coffee."

MK Meli Polishook-Bloch, Chairwoman of the Knesset Science and Technology Committee, said on Monday she was unsatisfied with progress on preparing the country for a major earthquake.

"There are a lot of plans, but things are still in the talking stage," Polishook-Bloch said. "I am not at all satisfied." In 1999 the government established the Hechal steering committee to prepare safety recommendations for a major earthquake. The committee released its findings in July 2002 and an interministerial committee, today chaired by Housing Minister Effi Eitam, was set up to oversee implementation of the recommendations.

Israel is located on the Syria-Africa great rift which stands over a friction point between two tectonic plates, an area prone to earthquakes.

In the 18th century, Israel was struck by a major earthquake, and again in 1837, destroying the northern city of Zefat.

ISRAEL NEWS AGENCY