Updated Tuesday 10.15am with latest small tremor being recorded on Tuesday morning.

A tremor measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale was felt across Malta on Monday evening, with people saying furniture moved in their houses and loose items fell on the floor.

It was reportedly the longest tremor in a series that hit the islands in recent weeks. 

It was also the second-largest earthquake in the world on Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The seismic activity was automatically recorded as measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale according to the University of Malta’s Geosciences Department’s Seismic Monitoring and Research Group.

Some 28 such tremors, ranging between 3.7 and 5.2 have been recorded since mid-January.  Another 3.7 magnitude tremor was recorded early on Tuesday.

Geophysicist Pauline Galea had warned earlier this month that the seismic activity hitting Malta could continue over several days. 

Galea had noted that the tremors were triggered by regional tectonic forces south of Malta. These have been known to generate seismic activity in the past and the subsequent number of tremors is not uncommon in such sequences.

The country experienced a similar series of seismic activity just two years ago.

Between September and November 2020, over 100 earthquakes of similar ‘intensity’ were recorded only 23km south of Malta.