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Strong quake rocks SW Greece, one fatality |
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08/06/08-17:30
 An uncharacteristically strong earthquake rocked much of southwest Greece on Sunday afternoon, with local seismologists pinpointing an intensity of 6.5 on the Richter scale, which would possibly make it the strongest quake recorded in modern Greece's history. The earthquake was recorded at 3:25 p.m. (13.25 GMT) local time. The tremor was felt as far away as Athens, some 230 kilometers to the east of the reported epicentre.
One fatality was reported in the village of Kato Achayia, Achaia prefecture, after a roof collapsed, along with nearly a dozen injuries in the same community. Several provincial roadways were also blocked off in the region from cracks in the pavement and falling rocks.
The head of Greece's Earthquake Risk Assessment Committee, Prof. Gerasimos Papadopoulos, speaking outside the Athens Observatory to several dozen reporters and television crews, said the earthquake was shallow, roughly 10 kilometres in depth and with an epicentre near the town of Andravida -- 30 kilometres southwest of the western port city of Patras in southwest Greece. The earthquake was the strongest to hit the area since 1802, according to reports.
The quake also lasted between 20 to 25 seconds, according to the first eyewitness accounts. A strong aftershock of 4.7 on the Richter scale was felt at 3:55 p.m. (local time).
Press reports from the Ionian isles and Ileia prefecture on the mainland of western Peloponnese noted that local residents have exited their homes.
At least one decades-old building was reported to have collapsed in Patras, with the majority of calls for assistance from the fire brigade coming from Ileia and Achaia (Patras) prefectures. One family was reported as trapped under the rubble of an older one-storey residence in the Ileia prefecture of Vartholomio.
A nationwide mobilisation of civil defence and fire brigade units has commenced.
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