Hundreds of residents in the southern Lebanese village of Srifa, near the epicenter of recent tremors, have been sleeping outside in fear of a major quake.
The recurrent earthquakes have damaged 353 houses in recent months, according to the Daily Star.
At least 80 earthquakes with magnitudes up to 5.1 have jolted the south Lebanon regions of Tyre and Nabatiyeh since February 12. The strongest over the past week registered a magnitude of 3.9.
The Israeli Health Ministry Monday warned on Monday that a strong earthquake is imminent in the north of the country, and instructed medical institutions to step up preparations for the disaster.
“The assessment of the interministerial committee for earthquake preparation is that the likelihood of a quake at a Richter magnitude of 6.0 in southern Lebanon is growing, " said of the director general of the health ministry Avi Yisraeli.
Officials say that such a quake would cause significant destruction of buildings and infrastruction in the region. A comparable quake shook Lebanon in 1956, killing 136 people and destroying 6,000 houses.
