Kingdom records 63,000 earthquakes in the past 6 years

WHEN EARTH SHAKES: The five-mile-long (8-km-long) rupture produced by the May 19, 2009, earthquake in Saudi Arabia.

RIYADH: The number of tremors detected by seismic monitors in Saudi Arabia since 2010, until the end of 2015, stood at 62,900, of which, six were strong tremors felt during the years 2011 and 2012, according to the economic reports unit at Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper.
Last year, the Kingdom witnessed 5,450 earthquakes compared to 11,000 in 2014, a decline of 54 percent.
In terms of magnitude, about 95 percent of the total number of the earthquakes witnessed in the region from 2010 until 2015 were less than a 1-2 magnitude on the Richter scale, which means that almost 59,700 earthquakes were not felt on the surface, but were nonetheless registered on seismic devices. A proportion of 4 percent of the earthquakes, about 2,670, were of a magnitude of 2-3 on the Richter scale and people closest to the epicenters felt them.
Meanwhile, 311 earthquakes, measuring 3-4 on the Richter scale, were small tremors felt by those closest to the epicenter, and mostly they did not wreak any havoc or cause damages.
Seismic tremors felt by people, but which did not cause damages from 2010 to 2015 numbered 156, having a magnitude of 4-5 on Richter scale, accounting for 0.2 percent of the total number of earthquakes.
Earthquakes felt by people numbered 49, and reached a magnitude of 5 to 6 on Richter scale, which can cause slight damage near the epicenter.
Six really strong earthquakes of 6-7 on the Richter scale, felt by people over an expanded area, inflected damages to weak structures and buildings within a 10km area surrounding the epicenter.
Slight earthquakes registered by seismic monitoring devices last year, but not felt by the population, amounted to 5,260, representing 96 of the total number of the earthquakes happening during the year, with a magnitude of less than 1-2 on the Richter scale. Last year, earthquakes with a magnitude of 2-3, but felt by people closest to the epicenter, amounted to 188; those with a magnitude of 3-4 amounted to 10 and mostly did not cause any damage.