Earthquake preparedness drill
Earthquake preparedness drillIsrael news photo: Flash 90

An earthquake on the Greek island of Rhodes Monday afternoon sent unusually wide tremblors in Israel from Tiberias in the north to south of Be’er Sheva in the Negev.

The Geophysics Institute in Israel said the earthquake in Greece registered 5.7 on the Richter scale and was felt in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where buildings shook.

Last May, a 5.3-magnitude earthquake in the Mediterranean Sea was felt in Israel.

Government officials have increasingly warned that many buildings in Israel are not built according to standards that would withstand a large earthquake.

The most damaging earthquakes in Israel in the past 200 years were in 1837, when the northern city of Tzfat was virtually destroyed, and in 1927, when Tiberias suffered from huge landslides.

The intensity of the Tzfat earthquake has been estimated as being between 6.25 to 6.8.