© USGS
An earthquake rocked Israel on Friday evening, shortly before 10:00 p.m. local time, and was felt in areas from northern Israel to central Israel.
According to a Channel 10 News report, the police in the Northern, Central and Tel Aviv Districts said they received hundreds of phone calls from citizens who felt the earthquake. Local residents reported feeling objects and buildings move for about 15 to 20 seconds. There were no reports of injuries or damages.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 5.3 on the Richter scale and its epicenter was in Cyprus.
More than a 100 calls by concerned citizens were received in the northern city of Tzfat alone, the report said. The quake was felt even in Bat Yam, Kfar Saba, Ramat Hasharon, Ra'anana and other areas in central Israel.
Magen David Adom has sent reinforcements to its stations in northern Israel and is preparing for the possibility of secondary tremors, Channel 10 reported.
In February, a 3.1 magnitude tremor shook Israel's north. There were no injuries or damage following the earthquake. The epicenter of that earthquake was east of Lake Kinneret, and a number of communities in the area reported having felt the quake.
Experts have warned that Israel is expected to be hit by a major earthquake. Dr. Ephraim Laor, who headed the National Steering Committee for Earthquake Preparedness, told Arutz Sheva recently that each Israeli must prepare himself for a major earthquake that could hit Israel.
In February, school children around the country, from kindergarten age and up, participated in earthquake drills in their schools, practicing safe steps to take when the ground starts shaking.
Editor's note: USGS data indicates it was a 5.5 magnitude earthquake.
Well have to say if the epicentre was in Cyprus - didn't feel anything rocking here, however the weather has been out of order for the last two weeks. Plus we are getting daily power cuts but not sure if that is due to the solar problems or just local problems. For a very small island sporadic rain spots in some places and disruptive floods in the capital. (Friday). Unusually overcast and thundery weather, in places thunder but no rain to follow - strange. Closeness and humidity is also unusual for this time of year.
However Friday felt very strange in our village and we noted this. Not many birds chirping, village totally dead - felt something strange, something weirdly amiss. Nobody about. We were outside in coffee shops but strangely everything had closed early for the day!!!! My friend and I seriously discussed 'do some people know something we dont know'? Did someone die? Again very strange. Will research and dig deeper. My dog and cat were fine though.
I know that we are on a major fault line running from the black sea right through to Egypt. And maybe many more.