The Seismic Monitoring and Research Group (SMRG), within the Department of Geosciences, University of Malta, reports that a sequence of earthquakes, starting on the evening of Tuesday 17 January 2023 has continued throughout the day of Wednesday 18 January 2023, with at least 28 events being registered on Wednesday, most of them too small to be felt by the public. The largest event, of local magnitude 5.0, occurred at around 5pm local time, on Wednesday.
The cluster of earthquakes originated within the same source region, approximately 120 km south of Malta. Through its online questionnaire, the SMRG received more than 200 felt reports from all over the islands, particularly the central and southern regions. The events that were most reported as being felt were the ones at 05:22, 15:13 and 16:55 local time on Wednesday.
Respondents reported rattling of windows and crockery, some rumbling sounds, but no damage.
Similar seismic sequences occurring at the same source region have been recorded in the past, although the magnitudes of today鈥檚 events are somewhat larger than the average. The SMRG operates the Malta Seismic Network (MSN), which currently consists of eight broadband seismic stations installed over the three islands, transmitting continuous data in real time. The MSN enables continuous monitoring and location of earthquakes occurring around the islands.
The SMRG will carry out further analysis on all the data recorded on the MSN stations, in order to elicit more information on the present seismic activity and its relationship with submarine geological structures.
Persons who felt any shaking are invited to report their experience on the .
