Greece: Strong earthquake shakes holiday islands in the west
Created: 2022-09-08 15:26
By: Martina Lippl
Earthquake in Greece: On the holiday islands in the Ionian Sea, like here in Zakynthos (archive photo), the earth trembled.
© Dariusz Szwangruber/imago
The earth in Greece does not come to rest.
A strong earthquake has now shaken popular holiday islands in the Ionian Sea.
Athens – An earthquake shook parts of Greece on Thursday.
The 5.4 magnitude quake was felt mainly on popular islands such as Zakynthos, Kefalonia and Ithaca, as well as on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula.
Greece: Earthquake epicenter this time west of holiday island
According to the Geodynamic Institute of Athens, the epicenter was west of the island of Zakynthos and at a depth of around ten kilometers below the sea floor.
According to the Athens Seismological Service, the magnitude was 5.4.
International seismic services initially classify the magnitude between 5.3 and 5.6.
According to the earthquake portal erdbebennews.de
, a manual check
is still pending.
Foothills of the earthquake were also felt in the Italian region of Apulia and in Albania.
Tourists and residents should expect aftershocks in the coming days.
"So far we have no information about injuries or damage," said the mayor of the city of Lixouri, Giorgos Katsivelis, according to Greek media.
Earthquake in Greece: After Crete, Samos now Zakynthos
An earthquake recently woke people on the holiday island of Crete.
At the end of August, panicked people took to the streets on the island of Samos.
Two earthquakes in quick succession were felt there.
The residents of Samos apparently still have the severe earthquake of October 2020 in their bones.
At that time, earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.9 collapsed several buildings and killed two young people.
Earthquakes shake Greece: The map of the Geodynamic Institute Athens shows an earthquake west of the island of Zakynthos.
© https://www.gein.noa.gr/
Tectonic fault responsible for earthquakes
A huge tectonic rift runs in the Ionian Sea.
The trench - around 1,000 kilometers long - runs south of the Peloponnese peninsula in the sea and extends to southern Turkey.
This is where the African and European continental plates meet.
The friction between these plates repeatedly generates strong earthquakes.
Earthquakes are not uncommon there and in the rest of Greece.
Nevertheless, earthquakes are comparatively mild.
There are rarely fatalities or serious damage.
The epicenters of earthquakes are often in the sea.
(ml/dpa)
