·

Dangerous earthquake swarm prompts declaration of natural disaster zone on Ionian island of Cephalonia, Greece

dangerous-earthquake-swarm-prompts-declaration-of-natural-disaster-zone-on-ionian-island-of-cephalonia-greece

Authorities declared Ionian island on Cephalonia a natural disaster zone on February 3, 2014. Eight days after the first M 6.1 earthquake that hit the region of Argostólion on January 26, 2014 at 13:55 UTC (15:55 local time), a second M 6.0 earthquake hit this region on February 3, at 03:08 UTC (05:08 local time).

According to EMSC, since the first shock, numerous aftershocks have been recorded. In 9 days (January 26 – February 4 at 07:42 UTC), 349 M3+ earthquakes, 43 M4+ earthquakes, and 3 M5+ earthquakes have been recorded.

These two M 6 earthquakes occurred in the same island as the destructive events of 1953. Between August 9 and 12 of 1953, three earthquakes of magnitude 6.4, 6.8 and 7.2 took place in Cephalonia leading to hundreds of casualties and strong damages all over the island, but also in Zante and Ithaca.

In the following months, 80% of the population left the island.

Many locals live with the fear of a possible repetition of 1953 as the coincidences are many. The forthcoming weeks and months will be a tough period for them as a barrage of aftershocks with an average magnitude above 4 is expected. (GreekReporter)

YouTube video

Video courtesy of InKefalonia.gr

The general secretary of public works, Stratos Simopoulos told eKathimerini that by Sunday some 1 800 buildings had been inspected on the island and that 750 of them were deemed dangerous. That was before the second strong quake.

According to eKathimerini, the Infrastructure Ministry is providing residents who are currently sleeping in their cars, at public buildings deemed safe and on two specially dispatched ferry boats with temporary housing in the form of prefabricated and mobile homes, as the weather seems to be conspiring against the quake-hit islanders with low temperatures and rain.

Aftershocks map created by EMSC on February 4, 2014 shows locations of 738 aftershocks since January 26:

Image credit: EMSC + Google – February 4, 2014.

YouTube video

Video courtesy Gianna Koul

Featured image credit: EMSC / Google – February 4, 2014. 

Share:

Commenting rules and guidelines

We value the thoughts and opinions of our readers and welcome healthy discussions on our website. In order to maintain a respectful and positive community, we ask that all commenters follow these rules:

  • Treat others with kindness and respect.
  • Stay on topic and contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way.
  • Do not use abusive or hateful language.
  • Do not spam or promote unrelated products or services.
  • Do not post any personal information or content that is illegal, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these rules. By commenting on our website, you agree to abide by these guidelines. Thank you for helping to create a positive and welcoming environment for all.

2 Comments

  1. It is common sense that our environment is governed by two cyclic forces; heating and cooling or unwinding and winding that gives way to one another. This manifests as day and night and climatic cycles with nearly equal time span given for each cycles. We also see a Parallel Design where when one part is heating another part is cooling. It is natural that when such a system is heated in exponential way through our material activity and when the parallel world design is upset by eating on the time given to cool, the system goes into disorder. It accelerates and both forces of heating and cooling peaks and fall violently leading to huge destruction from forces of Mother Nature. We are witnessing it around the world yet intellectuals and Governments are failing to Awaken to Truth. Science has come to realize temperature fluctuation is more fundamental threat to life. A fact I strived to call world attention for nearly two decades http://phys.org/news/2014-01-temperature-bigger-threat-life-warmth.htmlle
    http://www.thecanadiandaily.ca/2013/08/30/part-1-knowledge-that-can-save-humanity-from-climate-catastrophes/

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *