Earthquake Strikes off Greek Island of Euboea
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake on the Richter scale hit off the Greek island of Euboea in the night from Monday to Tuesday. The tremor, which occurred at 00:30 local time (21:30 GMT), was strongly felt as far as the capital Athens, according to the Geodynamics Institute of the National Observatory.
Earthquake Details
- The epicenter was located in the sea, 45 kilometers northeast of Athens and just 4 kilometers from the coast of the seaside resort of Nea Styra, in the southwest of the island of Euboea, Greece's second-largest island.
- No damage or casualties have been reported so far, according to Greek media.
- The mayor of Marathon, a town close to the epicenter, confirmed on public television ERT that "the earthquake was very intense," while specifying that no damage had been observed.
Seismic Activity in Greece
Greece is regularly affected by earthquakes due to its geological location on several faults in southeastern Mediterranean.
- In May, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake off the coast of Crete was felt as far as Egypt and Athens.
- The region of Santorini experienced exceptional seismic activity earlier this year, marked by thousands of tremors that led to the temporary evacuation of several thousand inhabitants.
- The last deadly earthquake in Greece occurred in October 2020: a magnitude 7 earthquake struck the island of Samos, killing two people on the spot and over a hundred victims in the neighboring Turkish city of Izmir.
