Moderate earthquake felt in Syria and Lebanon: Official media

Beirut: A 5.5 earthquake hit central Syria late Monday, with the shock felt in neighbouring Lebanon, official media in both countries said.

AFP journalists in Beirut and Damascus also said they felt the tremor.

"An earthquake of 5.5 on the Richter scale struck east of Hama city at 11:56 pm," Syria's state-run SANA news agency said, quoting Raed Ahmed, who heads the National Earthquake Centre.

The United States Geological Survey said the quake that struck Syria had a magnitude of 5.0.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said "some residents of Beirut" and other areas "felt a light earthquake at 11:56 pm".

On February 6, 2023, a pre-dawn 7.8-magnitude tremor killed nearly 60,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

According to Damascus, the earthquake killed more than 1,400 people in government-controlled areas of Syria, while more than 4,500 died in areas held by opposition factions in the country's northwest.

Panic residents

On Monday in Syria's Turkish-controlled north, many residents rushed out of their houses in a panic, an AFP correspondent reported.

They were still traumatised from last year's deadly quake that flattened buildings throughout the country's north.

Damascus resident Roba, who did not give her last name, said the latest quake revived painful memories of last year's devastating tremor.

"We panicked and rushed out of the building," said the 35-year-old accountant.

"I was afraid that what happened during the last earthquake would happen again," with entire buildings collapsing on sleeping people, she said.

"We do not have the courage to go back to the 11th floor where we live."