UAE residents feel tremors as multiple earthquakes strike Iran

UAE residents on Tuesday morning experienced tremors from multiple earthquakes that struck the southern part of Iran.

At 8.59am UAE time, a 5.5-magnitude earthquake was recorded in southern Iran, according to the UAE's National Centre of Meteorology (NCM). The weather department reported the second quake at 9.10am.

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NCM wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "A 6.0 magnitude earthquake on Richter scale is recorded in South of Iran at 09:10, 17/10/2023 UAE time", according to the NCM's National Seismic Network." At 12:22pm the NCM reported another 5.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Iran and was felt by UAE residents in the north.

The Met Department has confirmed that both temblors were "slightly felt by residents." However, the NCM also stated that the quakes were felt without causing any impact.

A few residents reportedly felt the tremors and took to social media. On X, a resident posted a video of a chandelier shake. Another asked: "Earthquake in UAE?" "That's why the earthquake was felt as far away as the UAE," another reacted to quake reports in Iran. A commenter on Facebook asked: "Did anyone feel an earthquake in Dubai?"

Seismology experts in the UAE had earlier said that residents have no reason to worry about earthquakes. "The UAE has low to moderate seismicity; hence we are safe. We are not on the active seismic belt," Khalifa Al Ebri, director of Department of Seismology, NCM, had said in a previous Khaleej Times report.

The quake was at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles), the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said. The earthquake occurred in northern Hormozgan Province and the epicentre was about 61 km (38 miles) north of Bandar Abbas. There have been no initial reports of damage or casualties; however, damage is possible in areas near the epicenter. It could take several hours until authorities can conduct comprehensive damage assessments, especially in remote areas. Aftershocks are likely over the coming days.

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