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29 March 2024

No major damage from Fujairah quake: expert

The picture is of the Dubai Shake Map and shows the activity on October 21, 2012 (Supplied)

Published
By Majorie van Leijen

The seismic activity in Fujairah was between 3 and 4, which indicates harmless seismic activity, expert said.

Residents of Fujairah were lightly shaken up on Sunday evening when three earthquakes off the coast of Oman and Iran made the UAE soil tremble. The seismic intensity was of magnitudes between 3 to 4 on the Modified Mercalli Scale at the epicenter, said Kamal Mohamed Atiya, seismology specialist at Crustal Movement Team of the Survey Department - Geodesy & Hydrographic Survey Section.

“According to the available information, we do not expect any larger event than that of Sunday evening. We have recorded some aftershocks of it,” said Kamal.

He said the magnitude felt indicates a very low activity, which is nothing to be frightened of. As reported by several residents an earthquake of this caliber becomes evident in hanging objects swinging and a vibration that feels like that of a passing truck.

“Generally, the seismic activity of this area – or all of the eastern side of UAE – is weak and does not cause more effect than light shaking without any damage.”

Kamal furthermore stated that the UAE earthquake activity is limited to the eastern region like the small-scale activity in Masafi or micro earthquake activity at Huwaylat and Nazwa.

In a hundred year, there has not been any earthquake with a magnitude higher than 5.

Movement of the earth is monitored and risk assessments are made for every area in the UAE. One indicator of earthquake activity is the Dubai Municipality Shake Map of the Eastern Arabian Peninsula.

“The Shake Map shows the seismic intensity and ground motion distribution close to the epicenter of the earthquake and this can help the disaster management department of Dubai Police or Civil Defense to know if this earthquake will cause any damage or not, and which area will be effected most so it can activate the emergency plan in case of any damaging event.”

Furthermore, all seismic networks are linked and automatically locate the activity within a few seconds. If required, it sends out alerts (SMS or emails) to decision makers to take action.

This can decrease injuries and guide them to close critical systems, like gas or electricity station if requested.

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