Israeli earthquake simulation goes off as planned

Israeli seismologists successfully simulated an earthquake of Magnitude 3 on the Richter scale on Wednesday morning. The effects were not felt in Cyprus, the Geological Surveys Department said.

The Israeli earthquake was simulated by detonating 80 tons of explosive material in a controlled blast on a military base in the southern Negev desert.

Earthquakes of Magnitude 3 are not severe and occur in the region about once a week, usually unnoticed by residents. People residing close to the test site may have felt the effects of the explosion however.

Israel sits on the volatile Syrian-African Rift and experts believe a major earthquake will hit the region in the coming years.

The explosion tested seismic and acoustic sensors throughout Israel and around the Mediterranean basin. Cyprus was among the countries recording data.

Kyriakos Solomi, of the Geological Surveys Department in Cyprus, said “The test was completed and the data has yet to be analysed. I can say that an earthquake of magnitude 3 is unlikely to have been recorded by our monitors because it is so small. We can detect earthquakes around the world of magnitude 5 and above but there are limitations.”

He said the results would be “examined with all the records of the other countries involved” and should be available “within about three months”

The Israeli Seismology Branch Head Rami Hofstetter said that he did not expect to produce a final report on the experiment “for at least a year” but initial results indicated that the explosion went as planned.

The project was funded by the U.S. Defense Department and was a collaboration between the Seismology Branch of the Israel Geophysical Institute – which is part of the National Infrastructures Ministry – and the University of Hawaii, with the co-operation of the teams in Europe.

Israel has performed similar experiments before but on a smaller scale; in 2004 with 35 tons of explosives and in 2005 with 20 tons.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.