Northern Israel struck by earthquake for third time in a day



A minor earthquake was felt in northern Israel on Sunday night — the third such tremor of the day.
There were no reports of injuries or damages as a result of the quake, the seismic reading of which was 3.1 on the Richter scale.
The northern city of Tiberias announced late Sunday that it had opened an emergency hotline for residents in light of the wave of earthquakes to hit the area around the Sea of Galilee in the past week.


The city earlier ordered residents to evacuate three apartment buildings in light of the quakes.


The second earthquake of the day was felt shortly before 5 p.m. in the Galilee.
The temblor was centered on the Sea of Galilee, just off the beaches of Tiberias, seismologists at Israel’s Geophysical Institute said, and was measured at 3.9 on the Richter scale. Unlike its 3.0-Richter predecessor earlier in the day, the new quake was felt as far west as Haifa on the Mediterranean coast and on the Golan Heights plateau to the east.
It was the latest earthquake in a week of tremors in the Galilee that has left officials worried that a larger quake might be coming.
The first quake took place early Wednesday morning in the northern Galilee area, measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale. It was felt in the Haifa region and northern Israel and was followed by several aftershocks.
Weak quakes continued to rattle parts of northern Israel early Thursday morning with two minor earthquakes recorded overnight, making a total of four in less than 24 hours.