Two small earthquakes recorded on UAE's east coast early on Monday

The tremors occurred in Dibba in Fujairah, which lies on an active fault line

A residential area near Wadi in Al Raheeb Town in Dibba Al Fujairah. The area sits on an active fault line. Ruel Pableo for The National 

Two small earthquakes struck an area on the east coast of the UAE on Monday.

The first quake, of 3.1 magnitude, took place at a depth of 5 kilometres, just before 5am in Dibba, Fujairah.

A second, registering 2.3 magnitude, followed at 7.24am in the same location.

Khamis Al Shamsi, director of seismology at the National Centre of Meteorology, said these were nothing out of the ordinary.

"This happens maybe three to four times in a year," he told The National.

"Usually after the bigger earthquake, there is a smaller one. But these two are light shocks, not big."

According to a tsunami alert warning site, earthquakes below a magnitude of 2 can only be detected by instruments, while anything from 2-2.9 may cause hanging objects to swing.

Anything between the magnitude of 3 and 3.9 creates tremors which are comparable to the vibrations of a passing truck.

Quakes which register between 4 and 4.9 may break windows or cause small or unstable objects to fall.

Dibba sits on an active fault line, which crosses into Oman.

The area experiences small to medium quakes up to the magnitude of 4-5.5, according to a seismic hazard assessment survey carried out by UAE authorities.

In 2002, Masafi in Fujairah experienced a 5 magnitude quake.

"It caused cracks in the walls to old buildings," said Mr Al Shamsi.

"It was a moderate quake. The big ones are 6 up to 7 or 8 magnitude.

"The UAE would not see these."

The country sits on the edge of the Arabian tectonic plate, adjacent to the Iranian plateau – one of the most seismically active areas in the world, which regularly suffers destructive quakes.

Since 1900, at least 126,000 people have died in Iran as a result of earthquakes.

The UAE occasionally experiences tremors from powerful earthquakes in Iran.

In 2014, a 5.1 magnitude quake southern Iran was felt in Dubai and the northern emirates.

And a year earlier, people were evacuated from high-rise buildings in Dubai as a precaution, after a 7.8 magnitude quake struck Iran’s border with Pakistan.

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