A magnitude 3.5 earthquake struck southwestern Germany near the city of Mannheim on Thursday evening, European seismologists reported.
The underground tremors were recorded at 5:27 pm local time, corresponding to 6:27 pm Moscow time, at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres, according to data released by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre. Seismologists classified the tremors as a weak earthquake, and local authorities received no immediate reports of casualties or structural damage in the affected region.
The epicentre of the seismic event was located 12 kilometres north-west of Mannheim, a major urban centre with a population of 307,000 residents. The shockwaves were also registered 62 kilometres south of Frankfurt am Main, a metropolis home to approximately 650,000 inhabitants.
Mannheim is a prominent industrial hub and university city situated in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg at the confluence of the Rhine and Neckar rivers. Frankfurt am Main, located further north in the state of Hesse, serves as the main financial centre of Germany and houses the headquarters of the European Central Bank. The region lies within the Upper Rhine Graben, a major rift valley that represents one of the primary seismically active zones in Central Europe, where minor crustal movements periodically cause low-level tremors.
Seismic monitoring and earlier South American tremor
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, an international non-profit organisation based in France, monitors global earthquake activity by synthesizing data from hundreds of seismic stations. Magnitude 3.5 events are typically felt indoors by residents as minor shaking, but they seldom cause structural failure in modern buildings or civil infrastructure.
The German event came after a stronger earthquake of magnitude 5.3 occurred along the border between Peru and Ecuador earlier in the day. Underground tremors in South America were recorded at 1:42 am local time, which corresponds to 9:42 am Moscow time, also originating at a focal depth of 10 kilometres.
The epicentre of the border quake was situated 140 kilometres east of the Ecuadorian city of Yantzaza, which has a population of around 15,000 inhabitants. Yantzaza is located in the southern province of Zamora-Chinchipe near the eastern slopes of the Andes mountains, a zone known for frequent seismic events due to the ongoing subduction of the Nazca tectonic plate beneath South America.
