VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – A magnitude 5.1 earthquake off Italy’s southern tip shook residents across Malta early on Saturday, with many reporting they were woken by the tremor in the early hours of the morning.
The quake was first detected at 5.53am by seismic equipment operated by the Rome-based National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology. Monitoring instruments run by the University of Malta’s Seismic Monitoring and Research Group registered the tremor just one second later.
According to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, the earthquake struck at a depth of about 58 kilometres in the Ionian Sea, some 20 to 60 kilometres off the coast of Reggio Calabria in southern Italy.
Residents from across Malta, including Marsascala, Mġarr, St Julian’s, Kirkop and Birkirkara, reported feeling buildings shake during the early-morning hours.
Italian seismic monitoring data indicates the quake was the strongest in a series of tremors recorded off Sicily over the past week. Another earthquake, measuring 4.6, was reported near Greece shortly afterwards.
Earthquakes of magnitude 5 are classified as moderate and are typically felt by almost everyone in the affected area. Around 1,300 such earthquakes are recorded worldwide each year.
The last similar tremor widely felt in Malta occurred in September, when a magnitude 5.2 earthquake off the island’s southern coast was reported by residents in several localities.
Although Malta does not lie on a major fault line, the central Mediterranean seabed lies close to the boundary between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates, making distant earthquakes occasionally perceptible on the islands.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
