Algiers region hit by earthquake

ALGIERS (AFP) Jan 10, 2004
Residents of Algiers left their apartments in panic Saturday after an earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale hit the Algerian capital's region, but no one was hurt and no damage was reported, officials said.

The epicenter of the quake was located 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of Zemmouri near Boumerdes, a city 50 kilometers east of the capital, said the Algerian center for astronomy, astrophysics and geophysics.

The center said the latest quake was another aftershock of a quake which killed 2,300 people and injured more than 11,000 in the Algiers and Boumerdes area in May last year.

Zemmouri was completely devastated in that quake which reached 6.8. More than 1,000 aftershocks have been registered since.

TERRA.WIRE