Earthquake occurred at 9.12 today, Friday, morning in the Ionian sea area, off Ilia.
According to the revised assessment of the Geodynamic Institute, this is a magnitude tremor 5.7 degrees on the Richter scale, centered east of Strofades.
It was preceded, one minute earlier, by a weaker 4.3 magnitude tremor.
The two earthquakes were felt in many regions of the country, including in Attica.
The seismologists are reassuring
As the professor of Dynamic Tectonics & Applied Geology, Efthymis Lekkas stated in “K”, the double seismic tremor “does not appear to affect building infrastructure and people”.
“It is a surface earthquake on the Greek arc. It was strongly felt in Zakynthos, Kefalonia, Agrinio, in areas of the Peloponnese and also in Athens. However, it is an earthquake that does not seem to have an impact on building infrastructure and people”, he noted.
Reassuring also appears director of the Geodynamic Institute, Athanasios Ganaswho speaks of a main earthquake and an aftershock.
“The earthquake, which was one and not two, occurred on 09.12 with a magnitude of 5.7 Richter in the underwater area of Strophades in the central Ionian Sea. It is one of the most earthquake-prone regions of the Greek arc. The earthquake – which was superficial with a depth of 20 kilometers – occurred at the contact boundary of the two plates, Eurasian and African,” he notes.
As he estimates, “there is no concern for the residents of Ionia and Peloponnese. The size is expected for the area it was made. In 2018, in the same area, we had an earthquake of 6.8 on the Richter scale to the west of what was then Strofadis. Now a part of the fault to the east of Strofadis has broken. The fault, that is, breaks in sections. In 1997 there was a magnitude 6.7 earthquake. The reason that no material damage is caused is resilience of the buildings due to the strict anti-seismic regulation”.
According to testimonies of residents, the seismic tremors lasted, while patrols have been started by Fire Department units, in order to detect any problems from earthquakes.