Villagers in south Lebanon camp outdoors amid quake fears 
A Lebanese woman arranges her tent having left her home with members of her family in the southern Lebanese town of Srifa, in fear of a potential strong earthquake. (AFP/Mahmoud Zayat)
SRIFA, Lebanon (AFP) - Hundreds of residents of the south Lebanon village of Srifa have been camping out at night amid fears that a major earthquake will hit the region, their mayor said on Tuesday.
Ali Eid said around 300 people from Srifa, a village of 6,000 inhabitants east of the southern port of Tyre, have been spending the night in tents for the past weeks.
Lebanese and Israeli experts warned on Monday that a strong earthquake could soon rock Lebanon and parts of Israel, and that unusual seismic activity had been noted in south Lebanon since February.
Moueen Hamze of Lebanon's national scientific research centre said 800 tremors ranging in magnitude from 2.3 to 5.1 on the Richter scale had shaken the south Lebanon regions of Tyre and Nabatiyeh since February 12.
"The tremors increased significantly in May and June," he told AFP on Monday.
Experts expect a quake of between five and six on the Richter scale to strike, like the tremor that shook Lebanon in 1956 killing 136 people and destroying 6,000 houses, Hamze said.
The director general of the Israeli health ministry, Avi Yisraeli, expressed similar concerns.
According to him some 500 minor earthquakes shook southern Lebanon over three months since February. "In May, the tremors have become more intense and were felt in northern Israel," he said.
"The probability of an earthquake of a magnitude of up to six on the Richter scale, originating in Lebanon and being felt in Israel has increased," he added in a letter published Monday.
"Should an earthquake of such magnitude hit northern Israel, it may cause substantial infrastructural damage in the area."
Health officials in northern Israel have been urged to prepare for such an event.
In Srifa, farmer Khodr Jaber told AFP he had been camping out at night for the past month with his seven children month amid repeated tremors which have caused cracks in the walls of his house.
"Five members of my family were killed during the 2006 war (between Israel and the Shiite militant group Hezbollah) when Israel shelled my house. I don't want to lose the rest of my family because of an earthquake," he said.
According to the mayor, a total of 353 houses have been damaged with cracks appearing in the walls and ceilings due to the tremors that have shaken the region since February.
Eid said 40 tents had been pitched for the families who are afraid of being indoors at night. Sixty additional tents were expected to be handed out to villagers, he added.
A Lebanese man smokes a waterpipe as he sits with members of his family in a tent after they left their home in the southern Lebanese town of Srifa, in fear of a potential strong earthquake. Hundreds of residents of the south Lebanon village of Srifa have been camping out at night amid fears that a major earthquake will hit the region, their mayor said on Tuesday. (AFP/Mahmoud Zayat) 
2nd July 2008
