More than 20 houses were damaged in the coastal town Kobuleti. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch — An earthquake hit Georgia Wednesday morning; the second one in three days.

Two strong quakes were felt early morning December 26, at 02:44 and 03:00 am.

According to the seismic monitoring center, the strength of the earthquakes were 5.5 and 5.0, and like the ones on Sunday, the epicenter was also this time at 10 km’s depth underneath the Black Sea. Distance to the shoreline was 29 and 32 km.

The earthquakes caused damage to several houses in the coastal beach resort Kobuleti, a correspondent for IPN reports. No houses collapsed, but more than twenty had visible cracks or were otherwise damaged.


There broke out panic among the population in Batumi and Kobuleti on the coast, and in Kutaisi, a city further into the country, according to reporters working for Interpressnews and Netgazeti. Schools were closed, while many people stood outside of their houses afraid to go in. Some shops were also closed.

The December 23 earthquake had a magnitude of 5.7. The epicenter was under the Black Sea about 40 km off the coast. It was followed by three smaller quakes. According to the seismic monitoring center, there have been 7 earthquakes with magnitude higher than 3 since December 23.

Several houses were damaged in Kobuleti and Kutaisi Sunday, and the phone system broke down.