Earthquake jolts Lebanon and its neighbours (Roundup)

Feb 15, 2008, 16:51 GMT

Beirut/Amman - An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter Scale rocked Lebanon on Friday, injuring 10 people and panicking residents east of the southern port city of Tyre.

Lebanon's National Centre for Scientific Research said the quake had its epicentre 17 kilometres east of Tyre.

'We expect another quake of similar magnitude or stronger in the next 24 hours,' said centre director Mouin Hamzeh. The tremor hit at around 1030 GMT, he added.

In the afternoon residents of Tyre felt another quake. It registered 4.2 on the Richter scale, according to the centre.

At least ten people were injured in the quake. Police said a man was also killed by a falling stone in the village of Deir Kanon al Nahr, east of Tyre.

Buildings in the capital Beirut also shook and the quake was felt along the border with Israel, causing damage in a number of villages in southern Lebanon.

Residents ran toward the seashore after the tremor struck in the southern coastal area of Baas, a local resident told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

'The tremor caused deep cracks in roads and some balconies collapsed in several abandoned homes,' the resident added.

Local television stations said some villages in southern Lebanon experienced power cuts. Some cars were damaged in the streets as a result of falling masonry.

An earthquake measuring 5.3 degrees on the Richter scale also hit northern Jordan around the same time, a Jordanian expert said.

The tremor had a depth of 13 kilometres and an epicentre north of Tiperias, the head of Jordan's Seismic Centre, Darwish Jasser, said.

'The quake, which lasted for about five seconds, was felt in Jordan by people in West Amman and the cities of Irbid, Ajloun and Zarqa,' he added.

Israeli media reports said the quake was felt in the central part of the country and in the Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported.

In the West Bank, an old house collapsed onto the main road in Kofin village west of Nablus. The earthquake also shook parts of Syria.

The largest earthquake to strike Lebanon in recent times was in 1956. That killed 136 people, destroyed 6,000 buildings and damaged 1,700 more. A large part of the old city of Saida (Sidon) was destroyed in the quake.

In 1759, an earthquake devastated Beirut and the Syrian capital Damascus, killing 40,000.