Reply to the comment of Semmane and Khelif 2018 (AJGS) on the paper of Abbouda et al. 2018 (AJGS) “Seismotectonic and seismological aspects of the Mostaganem (Western Algeria) May 22, 2014 (Mw 4.9) seismic event”

Abstract

We are thankful to our colleagues Semmane and Khelif for their comment on our paper published in Arabian Journal of Geosciences (AJGS) (Abbouda et al. Arab J Geosci 11:57, Abbouda et al. 2018) giving us an opportunity for fruitful discussions and by providing further information and data on the Mostaganem seismic event. Indeed, monitoring and studying earthquakes in the Tell Atlas chain are interesting and need to be encouraged on both seismotectonic and seismic hazard aspects. The Abbouda et al. 2018 paper, as indicated in the title, treated two aspects of the May 22, 2014, earthquake: the seismological and seismotectonic aspects. The comment of Semmane and Khelif concerns the seismological aspects of this earthquake. Two points are contested by the authors of the comment: (i) the poorly constructed localization of the main chock epicenter and (ii) the nature of the event occurred about 2 h 25 min before the main shock that was described as a foreshock. Concerning the first point, we admit that there was an erratum and we correct it below. For the second point, we consider that our statement about the event occurred at 3 h 57 min 41.4 s (about 2 h 25 min before) is well justified, and we give more explanation below.