A magnitude 4.2 earthquake on the Richter magnitude scale struck southern Israel early Wednesday morning, the Geological Survey of Israel reported. The focal point of the quake was 40 miles northeast of Eilat. No casualties or damage are known at this time.
The earthquake was recorded at 2:08 AM Israel time.
The Richter scale is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter in 1935. is determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs (adjustments are included to compensate for the variation in the distance between the various seismographs and the epicenter of the earthquake).
The strongest recent earthquake in Israel was in 1995 in the city of Eilat when at least eight people were killed and about 30 were injured in neighboring countries.
The Home Front Command guidelines say that in the case of an earthquake it is necessary to go out into the open if possible. If that option is not available, one should enter the security room (mamad) and leave the windows and doors open, or go out to the stairwell, and keep going out of the building.