2006 Greece earthquake
  | |
| UTC time | ?? |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 6.8 [1] |
| Depth | 66 km (41 mi)[1] |
| Epicenter | 36°18′N 23°22′E / 36.30°N 23.36°E |
| Areas affected |  Greece |
| Tsunami | no |
| Casualties | none |
The 2006 Greece earthquake occurred on January 8, 2006, at 1:34 p.m. local time, and was felt throughout the entire eastern Mediterranean basin. The quake had a moment magnitude of 6.6[2] to 7.0[3][4] and its epicentre was located just off the island of Kythira, some 200 km south of Athens.
One person was injured and a number of buildings and roads in Kythira were heavily damaged as a result of the earthquake. Several older houses on the island completely collapsed while the central square of the village of Mitata partially fell into the valley as a result of a subsequent landslide. Few buildings were damaged on the mainland closest to the epicentre (Cape Malea). On the island of Crete, two people were slightly injured in their attempt to abandon their homes. Damage to 146 buildings was recorded in western Crete, including the old town hall of Chania, the third Venetian arsenal, nine schools and many of the houses in the old Venetian town center.
Nevertheless, despite the magnitude and the duration of the tremor (buildings in Athens swayed for almost 40 seconds) no other significant injury or damage was reported in the country's strongest earthquake in decades. This was mainly because the quake had a focal depth of approximately 66 km. The tremor was felt in Bari on the Adriatic Sea, Naples, Catania, much of southern Italy, (also felt strongly enough in throughout Sicily), as far away in Rome, Cairo, Amman, and even along the Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli shorelines. The earthquake also felt in some European and African countries such as Cyprus, Malta, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, greater Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, parts of Romania, Slovenia, Hungary, Moldova and as far away in throughout Crimea, Odessa and Kherson in Ukraine, Benghazi and Tripoli in Libya and Tunis in Tunisia. In Turkey, city of Izmir was suffered minor damage due to close to the epicentre, some 440 km away, although mild tremors was also felt as far away in Istanbul, Ankara, Çanakkale, Bursa, Eskisehir, Antalya, Denizli, Usak, Isparta, Konya and Zonguldak. Despite early fears of a subsequent tsunami no such event was recorded.[5]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Magnitude 6.8 - Southern Greece: 2006 January 8 11:34:55 UTC", Earthquake Hazard Program, United States Geological Survey
- ^ "Kythira Earthquake" Department of Geophysics & Geothermics, Faculty of Geology, University of Athens, accessed 7 July 2009
- ^ "Earthquake shakes southern Greece". BBC.com. 2006-01-08. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
- ^ "7.0R earthquake between Crete and Kythira jolts most of Greece, some damage, no injuries reported". Athens News Agency. 2006-01-08. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
- ^ Template:Title=Earthquake in southern Greece, felt in 21 countries, also in throughout Greece
External links
- Underwater Earthquake Rattles Greece
- Many pictures of the damage done by the earthquake can be found on Kythera-family.net via this link.