د. العمري: الهزة الأرضية في منطقة القصيم وحائل سببها الإنسان

Earthquakes... Caused by Humans

Dr. Al-Omari: The earthquake in the Qassim and Hail regions was caused by humans

The head of the Saudi Society for Earth Sciences, Dr. Abdullah Al-Omari, attributed the causes of the earthquake that occurred today at 12 noon in the area between Qassim and Hail to excessive groundwater withdrawal during the past decades. Additionally, the heavy rainfall in recent years led to the filling of voids and cracks in the ground beyond the resistance capacity of sedimentary rocks to immense pressures, resulting in rockfalls and audible sounds due to rock collapses and their release near the surface in the form of seismic waves that were felt and heard.

Dr. Al-Omari revealed a big surprise: earthquakes that occur at a depth of less than 5 kilometers are caused by human activities on the environment, such as blasting operations, withdrawal or injection of water or oil.

He added that this type of earth tremor had occurred 30-40 years ago in the area between Qassim and Hail, as well as Al-Majma'ah, and several places in the central region, in what is called the platform or Arabian Shelf area.

The stations of the National Seismic Monitoring Network at the Risk Center of the Saudi Geological Survey recorded at noon 'today' an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.6 on the Richter scale at a depth of 5.8 kilometers, felt by residents of Qassim and Hail, and the tremor lasted for a few seconds.