Since the beginning of February, six earthquakes have occurred in Israel, relatively weak. However, scientists warn: such a dense series of underground shocks can be a sign of an approaching powerful earthquake. It can happen over the next year, Israeli media write.
“In Israel, there is a significant increase in the frequency of earthquakes, a sharp increase,” said Dr. Assaf Inbal, a seismologist of the Department of Geophysics of the University of Israeli, the Israeli ITV channel.
The last of the earthquakes occurred on February 22, its magnitude was 4.5. Experts agree that a strong earthquake in Israel is only a matter of time.
Dr. Inbal notes that the frequency of underground shocks in Israel has increased sharply after destructive earthquakes in Turkey. And so far it does not decrease: “What is it talking about? I can’t say for sure, but small underground shocks will not prevent a serious earthquake. They do not emit enough energy to“ dump ”all the voltage that accumulates on geological faults in our area.”
According to the seismologist, in Israel there was no such series of earthquakes over the past decades.
“It happens that a series of underground shocks precedes a strong earthquake. There is a certain chance that we will experience a strong earthquake. Perhaps the pace of these events will slow down, and a strong earthquake will occur in a year or more. It is impossible to predict,” says Dr. Inbal.
According to him, a strong earthquake in the fault of the Dead Sea, where the contacting lithospheric plates have accumulated enough energy, “will be extremely destructive.”