Saudi Gazette report

DAMMAM — Saudi Arabia’s seismic monitoring stations recorded a minor earthquake in the Eastern Province early Wednesday, according to the Saudi Geological Survey.

The survey’s official spokesperson, Tareq Aba Al-Khail, said the tremor occurred at 1:11 a.m. (local time) at latitude 24.1323° north and longitude 49.1572° east.

The earthquake measured 4.0 on the Richter scale and struck at a depth of approximately 8 kilometers.

Aba Al-Khail confirmed that the earthquake caused no damage, noting that its relatively low magnitude meant it was not strong enough to pose a risk to people or infrastructure in the region.

He explained that the seismic activity was linked to tectonic pressures resulting from the collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates in Iran’s Zagros Mountains.

These pressures, he said, can reactivate pre-existing faults in the Earth’s crust beneath Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, occasionally leading to minor tremors.

The Eastern Province has also been under a red weather alert issued by the National Center of Meteorology for the past three days, due to unstable weather conditions. As a precautionary measure, in-person classes in the region were suspended for the third consecutive day on Wednesday.