5.1 Earthquake Rattles Evia, Greece

A 5.1 earthquake rattled on Friday morning on the island of Evia which was also felt in Athens. There have been no reports of damage or injuries.

According to the Geodynamic Institute in Athens, the focal depth of the tremor was recorded at 14.2 kilometers.

The epicenter of the earthquake was 6 kilometers East of Prokopio village in the municipality of Mantoudi. Seven minutes later a 3.7 aftershock also hit the area.

Fanis Spanos, regional governor of Central Greece, told SKAI TV that no injuries or damage have been reported from the earthquake, only stating that items have fallen from supermarket shelves.

“Based on historical data, we do not have large earthquakes in the area,” Efthymios Lekkas the president of the Greek Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization (OASP)  told state-run television ERT.

He explained, that the epicenter is located in an area characterized by intense seismicity but at low levels.

He noted that in 2021 the same area was hit by a smaller earthquake of magnitude 4.8.

In June, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit near the town of Atalanti in central Greece, opposite the island of Evia.

Earlier in March A 5.2 magnitude earthquake rattled the island of Kythera in southern Greece.

Scientists warn that Greece could be struck by a large earthquake

Greece may be struck by a large earthquake like the one which has devastated Turkey and Syria, at least two Greek scientists have said, earlier in the year

The seismological forecasts were made during conversations about the impacts of the natural disasters in Turkey and Syria. The professors expressed concerns that a similarly large earthquake could affect Greece sometime in the future.

Speaking in two separate interviews, Professor Konstantinos Synolakis and Professor Costas Papazachos drew similar conclusions when assessing the history of seismic activity in the Greek region.

Greece lies in a highly seismically active region. The vast majority of earthquakes cause no damage or injuries, however.

In October 2020, an earthquake that struck the eastern Greek Aegean island of Samos and the nearby Turkish coast killed two people on Samos and at least seventy-five people in Turkey.

Greece is located in a complex geological boundary zone in the eastern Mediterranean between the African and Eurasian Plates.The northern part of Greece lies on the Eurasian Plate while the southern part lies on the Aegean Sea Plate.

The Aegean Sea Plate is moving southwestward with respect to the Eurasian Plate at about thirty millimeters (one inch) per year while the African Plate is moving northward, sliding beneath the Aegean Sea Plate at a rate of about forty millimeters (1.6 inches) per year.

 

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