BEYROUTH - A strong earthquake could soon rock Lebanon, Lebanon's national scientific research centre said on Monday. The secretary general of the centre, Moueen Hamz, told AFP in Beirut that 800 tremors ranging in magnitude from 2.3-5.1 degrees on the Richter scale had shaken the south Lebanon regions of Tyre and Nabatiyeh since February 12. "The tremors increased significantly in May and June," he said, urging the Lebanese authorities to take "serious prevention measures." Experts in Lebanon expect a quake of between five and six degrees on the Richter scale to strike, like the tremor that shook Lebanon in 1956 killing 136 people and destroying 6,000 houses, Hamze said.

Israel authorities also warned hospitals to prepare for earthquake. Since February, abnormal seismic activity has been noted in southern Lebanon, health ministry director-general Avi Yisraeli said in a letter published by the ministry on Monday. "In May, the tremors have become more intense and were felt in northern  Israel," he said, adding that "should an earthquake of such magnitude hit northern Israel, it may cause substantial infrastructural damage in the area". "All medical facilities and organisations must do everything they can to enhance the level of readiness," Yisraeli said in the letter.

Some seismologists in Israel say that quakes have historically rocked the region every eight decades, and the last one was nearly 81 years ago. About 300 people were killed in Jerusalem and nearby Jericho by the July 11, 1927 temblor. A similar quake measuring seven on the Richter scale and with an epicentre in the Hula Valley, today in northern Israel, devastated the town of Safed and killed some 4,000 people in 1837.