A partially collapsed building in Rashaya al-Wadi, in the Bekaa Valley, on Feb. 6, 2023. (Courtesy of Sarah Abdallah)
BEIRUT — An earthquake that struck Lebanon on Monday at around 3:20 a.m. allegedly caused the collapse of a house in the town of Ain Ata, in the Rashaya al-Wadi district of the Bekaa Valley, without causing casualties, the state-run National News Agency reported. However, a source in Rashaya told to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the Bekaa that the house, which is vacant, fell yesterday during a storm and not as the result of the tremor.
However, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the Bekaa, a glass factory in Taanayel owned by Mahdi al-Dalbani was damaged by the earthquake, and 80 percent of the goods in the factory were destroyed.
A winter storm currently hitting Lebanon has caused damage and cut off roads in both the north and south of the country.
Early Monday morning, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, the epicenter of which was in the southern Turkish town of Nurdagi, was felt across the region including in Lebanon. Nurdagi is 450km from Beirut and near Turkey's border with Syria.
While the death toll from the overnight earthquake is so far in the hundreds in both Turkey and Syria, no injuries or fatalities have been reported in Lebanon, according to caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi.
However, the minister called on residents "to evacuate dilapidated buildings in order to avoid a new disaster.”
Additional reporting by Sara Abdallah