4.6 Earthquake Rattles Crete on Wednesday
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Loading... - Michals Filo
- 16 Mar 2022
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A 4.6 magnitude earthquake hit the sea area south of Crete in the early hours of Wednesday.
Although the quake was felt as far as north as Heraklion, there have been no reports of damages.
According to the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), the quake hit at 4:20 am local time at a shallow depth of 16.4 km. Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones as they are closer to the surface.
Series of earthquakes in Crete
In December 2021 a much stronger earthquake of 5.7 magnitude struck Crete.
In October, a powerful 6.3 earthquake hit the south of Crete. The quake had a focal depth of 8.2 km (5.09 miles), and its epicenter was southeast of the city of Ierapetra.
It was felt as far as the coast of Turkey and on Cyprus, more than 310 miles to the east, authorities said.
On September 27, one person was killed and several were slightly injured after an earlier, powerful 5.8 earthquake rattled Crete.
Greece is especially earthquake-prone
Greece lies in a highly seismically active region. The vast majority of earthquakes cause no damage or injuries, however.
In October 2020, an earthquake that struck the eastern Greek Aegean island of Samos and the nearby Turkish coast killed two people on Samos and at least 75 people in Turkey.
The country is located in a complex geological boundary zone in the eastern Mediterranean between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate.
The northern part of Greece lies on the Eurasian Plate while the southern part lies on the Aegean Sea Plate.
The Aegean Sea Plate is moving southwestward with respect to the Eurasian Plate at about 30 mm (1 inch) per year while the African Plate is subducting northward, beneath the Aegean Sea Plate, at a rate of about 40 mm (1.6 inches) per year. Read More...
