Abu Dhabi/Dubai: The National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology urged residents not to panic after some residents in the country felt mild tremors resulting from an earthquake in southern Iran early Wednesday morning.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale hit 50km west south west of Kish Island in Iran at about 5.32am on Wednesday. Some residents in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and the northern emirates reported they felt it. But there is nothing to worry about, a spokesperson from the national weather bureau said.
“It was a very, very minor earthquake. We barely felt it. Many people called us but it was very mild. There is no need to panic,” a spokesperson told Gulf News.
“There was no recorded damage in the country. The quake happened 10km below sea level in southern Iran,” he added.
Residents who felt the tremors in the country said the small shakes lasted for a “few seconds.”
“I thought I was dreaming — that someone was shaking my bed and our building. I felt as if the ceiling was going to collapse on me. Then I woke up and realised it wasn’t a dream,” Dina Dacasin, an administration officer based in Dubai, said.
Many residents in the capital said the tremors were very mild and they hardly noticed it until they saw posts on social and news media. It also happened very early in the morning just after a public holiday, when most people were still asleep.
“I never knew that there was an earthquake until I checked Twitter and Facebook to find out that it was real,” Ahmad Al Badri, a banker in Abu Dhabi, told Gulf News.
However, Khalil Jayousi, an interpreter from Jordan whose apartment is located on Khalifa Street, said his wife felt the quake.
“Unlike me, my wife was awake at the time. She told me later that the bed had been shaking,” Jayousi said.
Noora Nasr, however, was awake and felt the quake. “It was a stronger tremor than the one I felt last year. I was lying in bed and felt the ground move, I thought I was dizzy until I saw the chandeliers sway from side to side,” she said.
Tremors are commonly felt in the UAE after quakes in neighbouring Iran or even further away in Pakistan. Since Iran sits on multiply active fault zones, earthquakes are a common occurrence in the country and send shock waves or tremors in nearby countries, including the UAE.
Similar tremors were felt in the country in May this year after a 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck Iran’s Qeshm Island. In 2013, a major earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale shook southern Pakistan, sending minor tremors as far as the UAE and India.
— with additional inputs from Sara Sabry and Samihah Zaman, Staff Reporters
