Earthquake Near Hong Kong Prompts Record Number of Reports on Tremor

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong was shaken by an earthquake early Monday, leading to a record number of local residents to report they felt tremors.

The 4.1 magnitude earthquake struck at 2:29 a.m. on Monday at about 92 kilometers northeast of Hong Kong and near the coast of Southeast China, according to the Hong Kong Observatory. 

Authorities received about 8,000 reports of minor shaking, the highest number since record keeping began in 1979. The shaking intensity was estimated to be at level 4 on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale, which means that it could rattle windows and doors, and cause hanging objects to swing. 

Earthquakes are rarely felt in Hong Kong when compared with places such as quake-prone Japan and Indonesia. Only 85 earthquakes have been reported in the city since 1979 -- an average of about two a year -- and none of them ever led to a direct casualty, according to the Hong Kong Observatory. The likelihood of a quake strong enough to damage buildings in Hong Kong is so slim that it’s estimated that it would only occur once in 500 to 600 years. 

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