Earthquakes near Cheb, Czechia: dozens of tremors at Nový Kostel

In the Cheb area of western Czechia, a series of tremors has been under way since early morning. According to the Institute of Geophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, its stations have already recorded dozens of tremors above magnitude 1, several of which exceeded magnitude 2. The epicenters lie north of Nový Kostel at a depth of about 7–8 kilometers.

Judging by the seismograms, the series began shortly after 5 a.m. Specialists are still verifying the exact strength of the tremors. As Jakub Klicpera of the Institute of Geophysics explained to the ČTK news agency, the actual intensity usually differs from the automatic measurements by only a few tenths of a degree. For now, it is hard to say whether this is a one-off event or the start of a prolonged earthquake “swarm”.

What is a seismic swarm

The western part of the Cheb region is a seismically active zone where such “swarms” occur regularly. They are series of small tremors that release energy accumulated underground. Unlike strong single earthquakes, swarms rarely cause damage on the surface.

What happened before

The last noticeable tremor in the region occurred earlier this year. Dozens of people felt it: it had a magnitude of 3.3, and its focus was roughly seven kilometers underground. Last year, the strongest tremors did not exceed about 2.5.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz