Residents in the Center and South reported feeling a minor earthquake on Wednesday night. No injuries or damage was reported.
“The whole house shook,” Asaf, a resident of Be’er Ya’acov told Maariv.
In addition to Beersheba, those in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv also reported feeling the quake.
The 4.6 magnitude earthquake was felt across #Israel. No damage or injuries reported. pic.twitter.com/TjQs0of7lJ
— Anna Ahronheim (@AAhronheim) May 15, 2019
Reports on Twitter placed the epicenter of the quake off the coast of Israel, saying it was 4.6 on the Richter scale.
Cyprus, Jordan and Egypt also reported feeling an earthquake, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.
This earthquake was felt in #Israel #Palestine #Cyprus #EgyptThere is no tsunami risk https://t.co/Iei91qqIBk
— EMSC (@LastQuake) May 15, 2019
The EMSC placed the epicenter 157 km. north of Port Said, Egypt.
An earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale was felt in western Greece and a 5.1 quake was felt in Yemen, according to Maariv.
After the earthquake, the Home Front Command published instructions on its Twitter page on what to do in the event of an earthquake .BREAKING: A 4.6 magnitude earthquake was felt throughout Israel. According to initial assessments, the earthquake occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean, 223 km from Israel's coast. https://t.co/oqMiGcE5e0 pic.twitter.com/AOZLF0PoCU
— Behind The News (@Behind__News) May 15, 2019
בעקבות רעידת אדמה שהורגשה הערב בשעה 20:00 בישראל, אנו מרעננים את ההנחיות, כיצד יש להתנהג בזמן רעידת אדמה >>https://t.co/noEzboMdGJ pic.twitter.com/nuicJPo4n6
— פיקוד העורף (@PikudHaoref1) May 15, 2019
Large earthquakes were reported in the North in January and last July.
Israel is located along the Syrian-African fault line, which runs along the Israel-Jordan border, part of the Great Rift Valley that runs from eastern Lebanon to Mozambique. A major earthquake is statistically due to strike Israel every 80-100 years.
In 1927, a 6.2 earthquake struck here, killing 500 people.
A 2016 report by the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s Home-Front Readiness Subcommittee found that if Israel were to be struck by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, an estimated 7,000 people would be killed, another 8,600 injured and 377,000 left homeless. In addition, the country could face damage of up to NIS 200 billion.