Yesterday’s earthquake at 1157PM was the first to hit Maltese territory—at least since records began. The earthquake was registered at 3.5 magnitude and was some 7km East of Mellieha, well within Maltese territory. The depth was around 9km, which makes it very shallow. Hundreds of people reported feeling the tremor very strongly. It was mostly felt in the Northern areas, such as Mellieha (epicenter), in Gozo (Nadur and Qala mostly) as well as towns such as St Paul’s Bay and Birkirkara.
A cursory examination of previous earthquakes that were felt in Malta can be found here. As can be seen, the last major tremor that was felt in Malta was in March 1972 when a 4.5 magnitude earthquake struck the Sicily-Malta channel which was distinctly felt in Malta and Gozo.
There have been several tremors since, some even just 5km away from Dingli, but they were of far less magnitude – around 2.3, which are considered negligible.
However, this is the closest earthquake ever to hit Malta over the past centuries. Luckily enough, no damage has been reported although several people reported considerable shaking of buildings.
Sports Editor
Veteran Journalist
Leave a Reply