A worker working in a collapsed church died Monday (September 27) in the strong earthquake that rocked the Greek island of Crete and also left nine injured, a civil protection official said.
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The earthquake, of magnitude 5.8 according to the Geodynamic Observatory of Athens, 6 according to the American Institute USGS, occurred at 06:17 GMT at 23 km from Heraklion, the capital of Crete.
It particularly affected the agricultural town of Arkalohori, where the worker died and where extensive damage was noted, according to Spiros Georgiou, head of the Civil Protection press office.
Nine people were slightly injured, he said.
"An earthquake that we weren't expecting"
The epicenter of the earthquake, with a depth of 10 kilometers, was recorded 346 kilometers south of the Greek capital, according to the Athens Observatory.
Images broadcast by public television ERT showed extensive damage, in particular the collapse of old houses in Arkalohori and other surrounding villages, near Heraklion.
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"
It is an earthquake that we did not expect, for the moment there are aftershocks of 4.5
", indicated the seismologist Efthymis Lekkas, president of the organization of anti-seismic protection, quoted by the Agency. Greek press ANA. The Minister of Civil Protection Christos Stylianides, accompanied by Lekkas and a team of services against natural disasters (Emak) is due to visit Crete in the next few hours, according to the ERT channel.
Greece is crossed by important geological faults and earthquakes are frequent.
The last deadly earthquake occurred on March 3 in central Greece, in Elassona, leaving one dead and ten injured as well as extensive damage.
On October 30, 2020, a magnitude 7 earthquake rocked the Aegean Sea between the Greek island of Samos and the Turkish city of Izmir, killing 114 in Turkey and two in Samos.
