'Seconds of mild tremors' jolt UAE residents at 6am

Fujairah - 'I was resting on my bed when I felt my bed vibrate'

An early-morning earthquake jolted some Fujairah residents out of their sleep on Friday. While many did not feel anything, those who did said the tremors were mild and lasted only a couple of seconds. It was also accompanied by a "thud", they said.
The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) confirmed in a tweet that a minor earthquake - with a magnitude of 3.4 on the Richter scale - was felt in the UAE.
"The quake occurred at 6.08am in Fujairah, at a depth of 12.1km some 20km off the Fujairah coast in the Oman Sea. The quake was 'slightly felt by residents'," the NCM said.
Fujairah resident Paul Rozario said a "loud sound" woke him up at around 6.08am. "It was a mild shake with a loud thud. I knew there was some construction work happening behind my apartment, so I thought they may have dropped some building material that caused the loud noise.
"But when I looked out from my window, I saw that the construction site was empty since it was a Friday. I didn't think much and then went back to sleep. Later, I saw on news that it was an earthquake," said Paul, who stays on the coast of the emirate.

Another resident, Reshma Khan, was awake at the time of the quake and had just finished her morning prayers when she felt "some vibrations".

"I was resting on my bed when I felt my bed vibrate and there was a strange drilling sound coming from the ground," Khan said.

"I immediately called my husband, who was in the kitchen at that time and he said he felt the same vibrations and sound. Both of us heard a drilling sound coming from the ground, which hardly lasted three seconds. We were planning to go to the beach that time but immediately cancelled our plans when we learnt it was an earthquake."

Nihal Ahmed was reading something on his phone when he felt a "gust of wind" shook his room.

"I stay near the airport, which is about 10km from the Fujairah coastline. I did feel the tremor but it was just like a gust of wind that hit my window. I didn't hear any sound but felt a slight shake," Ahmed said.

"I went up and looked out of my window but everything looked still and there was no wind as such. I am sure if I was asleep that time, I wouldn't have even felt anything because it happened within a fraction of a second and there wasn't any major tremor or sound."

No damage had been reported because of the quake. Similar tremors of low intensity, which were felt in the northern areas of the UAE, had been reported a couple of times this year but did not cause any damage.

saman@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE
• Fujairah