Friday, October 26, 2018

Strong 6.8-magnitude quake strikes off Greece

ATHENS: A strong quake struck off Greece early on Friday (Oct 26), but there were no initial reports of extensive damage or casualties.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) initially reported the earthquake as magnitude 7.0, but later revised this to 6.8, in line with the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC). Greece's Geodynamic Institute reported the tremor as a magnitude 6.4, 50km south of Zakynthos.
The tremor was felt in Greece's capital, Athens, and as far away as Italy, Malta, Albania and Libya.
The epicentre was in the Ionian Sea, 130km southwest of Patras in the Peloponnese, according to the USGS. The earthquake was particularly felt on the island of Zakynthos, also known as Zante, where power was briefly down.
A fire brigade official in Athens said there were no early reports of damage or casualties.
But a spokesman for Greece's civil protection agency told Reuters that three people had been taken to hospital, two of them slightly injured.

Local news websites reported that a 15th-century monastery in the Strofades area of the island had been damaged.
There were power cuts and slight damage to the port of Zakynthos, near the epicentre.
"We have been in contact with the local authorities to see where there is damage," spokesman Spyros Georgiou said, adding that efforts were focussed on villages with old buildings.
Italy's Il Messaggero online news site reported that the quake had been felt hundreds of kilometres away in southern Italy. Firefighters in Sicily, Calabria and Puglia received thousands of telephone calls for information about the quake.
An official confirmed a tsunami alert had been issued. The EMSC European quake agency tweeted that there had been a slight increase in sea levels of about 20cm but said it could be higher locally.
The quake was fairly shallow, according to the USGS, only 14km below the seabed, which would have amplified shaking.
It struck at 1.54am (6.54am Singapore time) and was followed by a series of moderate aftershocks.
Greece straddles two tectonic plates and often gets earthquakes.
"It was strong, things fell off the shelves," a witness in Katastari, Greece, 36km north of the epicentre, wrote on the EMSC website.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/greece-earthquake-athens-italy-epicentre-damage-10865858
See also 
http://www.earthquakepredict.com/2018/10/68r-in-ionian-sea.html
You may also like:

No comments :

Post a Comment