MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Seism shakes north east Brazil causing panic but no victims

A slight tremor with 3.9 Ritcher scale degree intensity, lasting a few seconds, followed by over a hundred low intensity replicas was felt in the Brazilian northeastern state of Ceará, according to Brazilian Civil Defence.

The telluric trembling begun early Friday dawn and in spite of no victims or significant reported damage to property, panic spread among the population mainly to the interior of Ceara state with many residents spending the night outside their homes. Seisms are so infrequent in Brazil, and generally so low intensity, that the country does not have a network of seismographs and it was only last December that the first victim of earth movements was reported. However to the interior of the state of Ceara, at least three tremors have been reported since last January 28, which is very uncommon. The epicenter of Friday's seism was located between the rural village of Jordao and Sobral the state's second largest city, in the county of Alcantara to the north. Brazilian Civil Defence said no victims or injures had been reported and that a few houses which had already suffered from previous tremors, were now showing cracks in some of the walls. According to experts from the Federal University of Rio Grande del Norte, next to Ceara and which has a few isolated seismographs "small tremors are normal in the northeast of Brazil because of the plaques 15 kilometers deep", but they rarely are felt on the surface. "Today's was one of the biggest in the last few days" said Francisco Brandao Melo head of the seismographic lab in UFRN. "People will have to get used to the possibility of an ever greater one". Ceara in the impoverished northeast of Brazil is best known for its beaches, glorious long stretches of sand interrupted by impressive red cliffs, palm trees, dunes, and lagoons that offer a true tropical playground. The capital is Fortaleza, originally a Dutch fortress taken over by the Portuguese when they regained control over the area. Year round tourism, mainly from Europe is one of the state's main industries.