Wednesday's earthquake shook the Knesset building strongly for about 20 seconds, startling MKs who were convened in committee meetings and making a long crack above a ceiling-support beam at the driveway exit to the VIP entrance. 

Several cracks were also found along walls and ceilings in the building, including one above the exit to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Knesset office. All of the damage within the building was superficial. 

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin suspended the morning session of the legislature while engineering staff inspected the assembly room. Rivlin said he wanted to wait to ensure there would be no aftershocks before convening MKs. 

A reported crack in one of the decorative beams that are suspended above the seats of MKs was not found, according to a report filed to the Speaker's Office by the Knesset's safety and engineering consultant. 

Rivlin, who opened the session after an hour-and-a-half delay, said he had feared that the beams could have been a "guillotine" for the ministers table and seats of senior MKs. 

Knesset Spokesman Giora Pordes said the plenum was in the same condition after the quake as it was before the event. 

Heavy soundproof glass panels that serve as a barrier to the public gallery were inspected to ensure that none had come loose. Walls in the faction rooms of Shas and the National Religious Party had cracks in surface cement, with the Shas crack falling next to pictures of the party's spiritual mentors. 

MK Ran Cohen demands the fortification of thousands of building at risk 

MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) intends to raise legislation next week that would require the fortification of between 3,700 and 7,800 buildings that are at risk of collapsing in a quake. Most of the buildings at risk are those built up on pillars with parking on the ground floor.

Interior Committee chairman Yuri Stern (National Union) summoned an "emergency meeting" on Monday to discuss what he said is the "crime" by authorities for being unprepared for a possible mass disaster. He said the government's inter-ministerial committee on earthquake preparedness has not been functional for two years. 

But Science and Technology Committee chair Meli Polishook-Bloch (Shinui) attacked Stern for calling a meeting as a result of the earthquake, calling him an "opportunist." She noted that in two weeks a joint meeting of the committees on earthquake preparedness was already planned before Wednesday's quake. 

Polishook warned that Wednesday's earthquake had sent signs that the Knesset building is in danger of collapsing in a stronger quake. She said the quake is also a warning light to the possible disaster around the rest of the country. 

MK Yisrael Eichler (United Torah Judaism) said it had been a "great miracle" that the quake had not caused any casualties. 

MK Ayoub Kara (Likud) was especially shaken by the tremor, which he said was his first. Kara, who fled from the Knesset Finance Committee, complained to Rivlin that there are no emergency exists in the Knesset to evacuate MKs.