Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Spokesman of the Saudi Geological Survey Tariq Aba Al-Khail has rejected reports on new tremors in Namas town, in the southern Asir Province. He said the situation in the governorate is safe and reassured the residents.

He said the awareness unit at the National Center for Earthquakes and Volcanoes of the department has postponed its visit to Makkah to enlighten the residents about the earthquakes and instead proceeded to Namas which witnessed light tremors during the past two days which were not more than three degrees on the Richter Scale.

"We went to Namas to interact with the populace on the incident not to terrorize or scare them," he said.

The spokesman said their visit to Namas was aimed at enlightening residents how to behave during and after the earthquakes.

He said the center is working 24/7 to receive and analyze earthquake data and to immediately inform the concerned authorities including the Civil Defense.

Aba Al-Khail said the units to monitor earthquakes in the Kingdom are among the biggest and most modern in the Middle East and are using the state-of-the art technology being provided by the satellites and their programs.

He said the Kingdom has about 225 digital stations to monitor earthquakes in addition to a center to receive and analyze earthquake data.

The spokesman said the national network for earthquake monitoring depends on information technology via the satellites to transmit earthquake data from the monitoring stations in remote and cut off areas to the center to analyze and take the necessary action on.