Magnitude 4.5 Earthquake in Gulf of Eilat Triggers Alerts and Brief Ramon Airport Halt

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck the Gulf of Eilat area at about 11:25 on Wednesday, 11 November, and was felt in Eilat and the Arava. The Home Front Command sent an earthquake alert telling people in parts of the south to go out to open ground, and Ramon Airport briefly stopped flights for safety checks. The Geological Survey of Israel first put the quake at 4.4 at a depth of 8 km, then revised it to 4.5, the level at which the warning network run by the National Emergency Management Authority with the survey sends alerts. The alert reached Eilat, Eilot, Be'er Ora, Elifaz, the Timna mines and the Shchoret industrial zone, and hotel guests in Eilat moved to open areas. It was the first alert the Home Front Command has issued for an actual earthquake since the system went into operation about five years ago. The Israel Airports Authority said flight operations at Ramon were frozen until scans and infrastructure checks were finished, to ensure flight safety. Passengers were moved out of the terminal, and Arkia and Israir planes waiting to land were held over the Arava while the runways were scanned for damage. The airport suffered light damage, and the authority announced a return to full operations shortly after 12:00. Israel Police said: "At this stage, no injuries or damage have been reported." A Home Front Command official said its checks found no casualties and no damage to buildings, and that the seismological institute saw no signs of aftershocks. At 12:14 the command told Eilat-area residents they could return to homes with no visible damage. A magnitude 3.4 tremor in the Arava three weeks earlier was below the alert threshold and set off no warning.