AL-NAMAS: Residents in the south of Saudi Arabia, in particular Al-Namas, Bisha and the surrounding villages, woke up on Friday dawn to an earthquake with a magnitude 4 on the Richter scale, followed by six 1.1 to 1.7 aftershocks, that were not felt by residents.

Hani Zahran, director general of the National Center for Earthquakes and Volcanoes at the Saudi Geological Survey told Al-Hayat: “The seismic activity happened in a three-rift region, where the activity occurs in separate periods.”

Zahran expected that a little seismic activity will continue for several days, saying that it is a normal activity since three faults meet in the region.

He added that the center monitored the magnitude 4 quake at 4:06:52 a.m. Friday, at 16 kilometers away from the northwest of Al-Namas.

In 2017, several earthquakes hit the Kingdom and the last earthquake before this one was a magnitude 3 quake that hit the Red Sea near Jeddah and was not felt by Al-Madinah residents. Non-significant quakes were also monitored in Umlaj, Haql and Yanbu during the past few months, he added.