A strong earthquake of a 6,0 magnitude struck off the Greek island of Crete on Friday at 16.30.
According to the EMSC, the epicentre of the earthquake was 60 km deep and 138 kilometers east-northeast off Heraklion and 51 km north-eastoff Palaíkastron. Whitnesses report about loud thunder roar sound. The earthquake took place at intermediate depth (60km) at sea. It has been largely felt in Greece, Western Turkey, Cyprus, Israel and as far as Cairo and Alexandria (Egypt). No damage or injuries have been reported.
Real Time Seismicity in Greece for the last 24 hours (Automatic Alerts)
National Observatory of Athens, Geodynamic Institute Athens, Greece
Police in the southern coastal town of Ierapetra said the quake struck around 4:30pm and though it was strongly felt, no injuries or major damage have been reported.
“It was a strong earthquake in a region that is in the eastern section of an area known as the Aegean Arc,” Manolis Skordilis, an associate professor of Seismology at the University of Thessaloniki in northern Greece, told The Associated Press. “This is a very seismically active area that has seen more powerful quakes in the past. We are monitoring the post-earthquake activity, which so far is not intense.“
Greece reports thousands of earthquakes a year, probably due to its location in one of the most earthquake-prone regions, but rarely reports major damage or deaths as a result.
On 21 July, 365 AD, a powerful earthquake off the west coast of Crete, estimated at 8.3-8.5 magnitude on the Richter scale, raised west Crete by eight metres and caused a tsunami which destroyed the harbour of Alexandria.
The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus described how the unexpected giant wave flung large ships three kilometres inland, and even onto rooftops. According to other reports, the tsunami drowned thousands of people in Egypt, Greece, Sicily and even modern-day Dubrovnik in the Adriatic Sea. The crops in the Nile delta were destroyed by seawater and the local towns and cities were deserted.
The last tsunami to devastate the east Mediterranean was on 8 August 1303. According to a study published in 2006, the nine-metre wave which struck Alexandria was caused by a 7.8 Richter earthquake off Crete. The tsunami swept across the Libyan Sea in 40 minutes and struck the shores of Africa.
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