Emirates college panel visits quake-hit areas in Fujairah

A delegation from the Geology College at Emirates University visited Fujairah yesterday and inspected houses and buildings affected by the tremors that jolted the city last month.

"The university team visited all the affected areas of the East Coast to prepare a study on earthquakes in the UAE and present it to the Ministry of Interior," said Colonel Juma Saif Al Ghashemi, Director of the Fujairah Civil Defence Department.

The team, invited by the Fujairah Civil Defence Department, later gave a lecture at the new premises of the Fujairah Civil Defence Department about how earthquakes occur.

The lecture was attended by Major Jasim Abdullah Humaid, head of the Operations Department at the Fujairah Civil Defence, Mohammed Saeed Abdullah, Director of the Amiri Diwan of Fujairah, Dr Salem Abdo Khalil, Fujairah Government's Technical Advisor and other civil defence officers.

Dr Adel Osman, an instructor at the Geology College at Emirates University, said the recent tremors occurred in the Arabic 'board' which includes the Arabian peninsula, some parts of Iran and parts of Turkey.

"There has been no earthquake in the UAE measuring more than 5 on the Richter scale during the last 30 years," Dr Osman said.

"Quakes with an intensity of less than three cannot be felt, but seismographs register them."

He pointed out that the earthquake which struck Fujairah and Masafi on March 11 measured 5.1 in a neighbouring country. The depth was 10 km and the epicentre was in the eastern part of Masafi.

He said quakes usually occur at depths of 10 to 67km.

He said most earthquakes occur in the north-west of the UAE. "The damage was not very serious because there were just cracks on the walls and little harm to columns and beams," Dr Osman added.