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Algeria hit by earthquake

August 1, 2014 at 2:16 pm

An earthquake measuring 5.6 degrees on the Richter scale hit the Algerian capital, Algiers, on Friday morning, the Anadolu news agency has reported. The Algerian Research Centre in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Geophysics (CRAAG) said in a statement that the epicentre of the earthquake was 19 kilometres east of Bologhine at exactly 5:11 am local time.

According to Anadolu, the earthquake caused panic among the residents who flocked into the streets while frequent aftershocks shook their homes. Civil Defence teams are measuring the damage but haven’t made any comments about the losses as yet.

The largest earthquake to hit Algeria occurred in May, 2003. Nearly two thousand people were killed in Algiers and Boumerdes province, in the centre of the country.

CRAAG said in a 2013 report that the country’s coastline is a seismically-active region which has seen an average of 80 earthquakes over the past two years. None exceeded 4 degrees on the Richter scale.