An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.3 rattled the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat on Thursday afternoon, the Geological Survey of Israel said.
No injuries were reported from the tremblor, whose magnitude had the potential to cause minor damage, Channel 12 News reported.
The earthquake’s epicenter was approximately 16 miles south of Eilat, near the city of Haql in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The tremor was also felt in Egypt and Jordan.
Israel has struggled to improve earthquake preparedness in the wake of the devastating Feb. 6, 2023, quakes in Turkey and Syria that, together with hundreds of aftershocks, killed just over 50,000 people in the former and some 8,500 in the latter, in what the World Health Organization called the region’s worst natural disaster in a century.
A 2018 State Comptroller Report estimated that a significant earthquake could result in 7,000 deaths in Israel, leaving 8,600 persons with severe or moderate injuries, 9,500 people trapped in buildings and 170,000 people homeless. A 2023 report found that 600,000 buildings in the country do not meet the standard for earthquake resistance.
Israel is located along the Great Rift Valley, an active fault line that runs from the Red Sea to the Jordan River, along the border between Israel and Jordan. This geologic fault presents several significant hazards for the area, including frequent light earthquakes and the occasional far more serious seismic events.
The Land of Israel has a long history of earthquakes, with a major one occurring approximately every 100 years. The last major earthquake to hit the region was in 1927. That quake, which had a magnitude of 6.2, claimed 284 lives and injured 940 other people. The cities of Jerusalem, Jericho, Ramla, Tiberias and Nablus (Shechem) were heavily damaged.
