Did you feel the earth shake?

A minor earthquake, measuring 3.4 on the Richter scale, shook the island yesterday morning.

The quake occurred at about 11 a.m. under the seabed about 43 kilometres east of Malta, the University of Malta's Seismic Monitoring and Research Unit said.

The tremor was felt by some people in Valletta and elsewhere, but many others did not feel a thing.

"It was a small earthquake and there is nothing to worry about," Seismologist Pauline Galea said.

Last month the unit registered four earthquakes in Malta that ranged between 2.2 and 3.6 on the scale. On Tuesday, the unit picked up a tremor in Sicily that measured 3.8 on the Richter scale.

Anybody who felt the tremor may report the experience on the online questionnaire at the unit's website www.phys.um.edu.mt/seismic.