Earthquake felt on UAE's east coast

Residents of Fujairah unharmed after feeling early morning tremor

The emirate of Fujairah on the UAE's east coast. Leslie Pableo for The National

An earthquake struck early on Friday morning on the coast of Fujairah.

The relatively minor tremor, at magnitude 3.4, was felt on the east coast of the UAE at 6.08am.

The National Centre of Meteorology described the impact as "slightly felt by residents without any effect".

Friday's earthquake is among the smallest to have any impact on the UAE this year. As recently as June, and over the last year, earthquakes of larger magnitude in Iran were felt in the northern emirates of the UAE.

Khamis Al Shamsi, manager in the department of seismology at the National Centre of Meteorology, said the earthquake occurred 20km off the coast of Fujairah and at a depth of 10 km in the Oman Sea.

“This was a small earthquake and people felt light tremors. We received some calls at our centres in Khor Fakkan city, Kalba and Fujairah,” said Mr Al Shamsi.

“We do not have many earthquakes in the UAE. Most of the earthquakes occur in the south of Iran or in the south of Pakistan.”

No buildings were damaged due to the earthquake.

In June, tremors were felt in the UAE after a 5.1-magnitude quake struck Iran. It occurred at a depth of 30 kilometres in the southern Fars Province at 3.59am. The earthquake was felt in the northern areas of the UAE, but did not cause any damage.

In February, residents in the Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and the Northern Emirates felt the ground shake after a 5.8-magnitude quake struck Iran's Qeshm Island.