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A mild tremor of magnitude 2.4 on Richter scale was reported in the Al Huwailat region near Fujairah on Wednesday afternoon.

According to the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology in the Capital, the tremor was felt at 2.48pm around 25km from Fujairah at a depth of 1.3km. Residents of the area said the tremor made them frantic though there were no damage reported.

“I was surprised to feel the house shaking. My children were scared to hear noises coming from the ground and ran to my room to tell me. We stayed indoors. I think this is the fifth time we have felt these tremors in the past few days,” said Walaa Aly Mohammed, a mother of four who hails from Egypt.

Another resident, Fatima Mohamed, said that she was terrified when the incident took place. “My home is old and I feared that the house might collapse on me. I had run of my home in fear when I felt the tremors,” said the UAE national.

Expert Khamis Al Shamsi, an earthquake engineer, said that the area is prone to seismic activities.

“The Northern part of the UAE, such as Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah, usually experiences these small shocks from time to time. It is normal because that area is where the fault line lies and the tremors are usually light to moderate. Maximum may go up to a magnitude of 4 to 4.5,” he said.

Al Shamsi added that there have been around four to five tremors in the past month and a half in the region. “We cannot predict when a tremor is going to come but when it does, residents should seek shelter under hard objects such as tables,” he said.

On Sunday, a mild earthquake was felt in the outskirts of Fujairah, measuring 2.0 on Richter scale at 7.44pm.

According to the NCMS, such seismic activities are due to the natural phenomena of the region, which is part of Iran’s Zagros Mountains where the Arabian tectonic plate meets the European and Asian plates.

The centre said the northern and eastern boundaries formed and shaped by the folds of the Zagros Mountains of Iran and Bibles in Turkey are known as one of the most seismically active areas in the world. Earthquakes are common occurrences in the Makran fault, close to the borders of the Arabian
Gulf region, the centre said. Seismologists continue to urge to further strengthen building codes in the respective countries of the GCC and the UAE so that the impact of the earthquake could be minimised on the society.