The Algerian Research Center in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Geophysics reports the quake struck at 9:02 p.m. local time in the Oran region, about 15 miles (25 km) north of the city of Oran and 210 miles (340 km) west of the capital, Algiers.
Oran, the biggest city in western Algeria, was shaken in January of this year by a 5.3 magnitude quake, which was the strongest to strike the area since 1790.
One person was killed, and the shaking caused partial collapses in a number of older buildings in the town of Boufatiss.
A 5.2 magnitude quake near Algiers on February 1 caused several people to become injured as they threw themselves out of windows in panic.
