2 minor tremors hit off Sidon hours after new Turkey quake

Minor 4.0- and 3.5-magnitude earthquakes struck off Lebanon’s southern coast on Tuesday, only hours after new 6.4- and 5.8-magnitude quakes rocked southern Turkey and were felt across Lebanon.

Lebanon’s National Center for Geophysics said the first quake hit 64 kilometers off the southern city of Sidon at 4:23 am. It was followed by a 3.5-magnitude tremor at 9:30 am, which struck 70 kilometers off Sidon.

Lebanese geology expert Tony Nemer meanwhile tweeted that similar quakes had been recorded off Lebanon's southern coast prior to Turkey's Feb. 6 earthquake and that the Tuesday morning tremors had nothing to do with the current seismic activity in Turkey.

Some panicked residents had fled their buildings when the powerful earthquake jolted southern Turkey on Monday evening.

Lebanon’s residents have been jittery since a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6 and was strongly felt in Lebanon.

The deadly Turkey-Syria earthquake was followed by hundreds of aftershocks and some of them were also felt in Lebanon.

Caretaker Education Minister Abbas al-Halabi had overnight ordered the precautionary closure of all public and private schools and universities in Lebanon, as many families slept in public parks or in their cars.