Manama: Thousands of people were evacuated from high-rise buildings in the Bahraini capital Manama on Tuesday after an earthquake in Iran triggered an aftershock in the country.
The mild tremors caused panic among many people, but no injuries or damages were reported.
“Several buildings were evacuated to ensure people’s safety,” Tariq Al Hassan, the head of public security, said. “Many people called the interior ministry, alarmed by the tremor, but we assured them about the situation. We are fully ready to deal with any emergency and the experts at the national centre for disasters are monitoring the situation very closely,” he said.
The ministry has also been in close contact with fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to assess and monitor developments, Al Hassan said on Bahrain Television.
“All agencies concerned with the situation have raised their preparedness levels to make sure that Bahrain remains incident-free. We are also monitoring the waters to evaluate whether they have been contaminated or affected in any way. So far, everything is fine, thank God,” he said.
Waheeb Al Nasser insisted that people should not panic when they feel the tremors.
“People should also be careful not to believe some of the remarks they come across on social networks or microblogs about earthquakes,” he said. “These messages, especially the ones predicting the time of the next earthquakes are not scientific truth. Expectations are possible, but predictions are almost impossible.”
Al Nasser stressed that people should be well aware about they should do in case there are tremors.
“It is important that they follow instructions, and not for example try to leave the building quickly by taking the lift,” he said.
The aftershock was also felt in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
In Kuwait, people were also evacuated and the tremors were felt for a few seconds at around 1:45 pm, local daily Al Watan reported.
