Seven Light Earthquakes Hit Israel Over Course of Two Days

3.6. quake hits near the Lebanon border at 4:32 A.M., felt by residents of the Tiberias area, dozens of kilometers away.

Seven light earthquakes were felt the Upper Galilee over the course of two days, measuring between 2.9 and 3.6 on the Richter scale.

The quake that hit near the Lebanon border at 4:32 A.M. on Tuesday morning ranked the highest magnitude and was felt by residents of the Tiberias area, dozens of kilometers away. The lighter quakes struck the region on Monday. No injuries or damage were reported in any of the incidents.

Upper Galilee
Dror Artzi

Israel's last destructive earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.2 on the Richter scale, occurred in 1927. Its epicenter was the Dead Sea, and its effects were felt in Jerusalem, Nablus, Jericho, Ramle and Tiberias, resulting in 500 deaths and injuries to 700. An earthquake in 1837 killed 5,000 people. According to the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius, in 31 B.C.E., 30,000 people lost their lives in an earthquake.

The main concern in Israel is that an earthquake would strike during hours when public buildings are populated.

Most schools and hospitals in Israel were constructed before new building codes - which take into account the effects of earthquakes - were enacted.

Moreover, some 50,000 residential buildings in Israel do not meet the new codes and are expected to collapse in the event of an earthquake. Even though this fact is known by all decision makers, nothing has been done to strengthen buildings and prevent them turning into death traps.

Billions of shekels are invested in the defense budget, but reinforcing hospitals or schools so they can withstand earthquakes and their aftermath receives no allotment. The plan for installing safety cages in classrooms may be a move in the right direction, but in practice their installation has not begun and the budget for this will most likely be taken from the funds allotted for reinforcing buildings.

It is important to note that public buildings will have to serve as places of refuge for many after a disaster. Also, even though there have been plans and government decisions, the program for reinforcing buildings, especially in towns situated in high-risk areas - along the Jordan Rift Valley and the Zevulun Valley - has not been promoted sufficiently.

It does not appear that in the coming decade the situation will change, even though the danger of a powerful earthquake is no less than that of a nuclear disaster - with the difference that we know that an earthquake occurs on average every 80 years.
As part of the preparations it is possible to install a national warning system. A proposal on this has been made to the relevant ministers and the Finance Ministry. Such a system will not replace the necessary strengthening of buildings, but can offer short-term warning to those in endangered buildings.

The system would provide warnings 10-60 seconds before the shock waves reach the buildings, based on sensors placed along the Afro-Syrian Rift, and record the movement of tectonic plates, sending the information to a nerve center.

The distance of most of Israel's population from the rift enables most residents to have at least a 20-second warning time. Twenty additional seconds usually pass before the building begins to collapse. In practice, this provides a 40-second window. The estimated cost of the system is $20 million, with an additional $1 million per year for operation and maintenance. The system is already operational in Japan, Taiwan, Turkey, Romania, California, Italy and Mexico.