Algiers: A 5.6 magnitude earthquake shook Algiers early on Friday, with 20 people slightly injured when panic gripped areas of the Algerian capital.
“There were no deaths but we had 20 people slightly injured in the panic, 12 of them in Algiers and eight at Boumerdes,” to the east, said civil defence official Colonel Farouk Ashur.
Some residents rushed out into the streets, fearing their buildings might collapse.
Achour said there was no significant damage caused by the earthquake, which hit at 5:11am (0411 GMT).
The epicentre was 19km off the coast of the western district of Bologhine, said the Algerian centre for research in astrophysics and geophysics, CRAAG.
It also reported five lower magnitude aftershocks.
“This earthquake is part the normal seismic activity of Algeria, which sits on two major plates. Algeria records 100 earthquakes a month but most are not felt,” CRAAG researcher Kamel Lamali told AFP.
A 2003 earthquake that hit Boumerdes killed nearly 3,000 people.
