SIX small earthquakes were recorded off the coast of Paphos in a seven-hour period from Thursday night going into Friday morning.
Kyriacos Solomi, head of the Cyprus Seismology Department, yesterday told the Mail that the tremors were small and apart from one, were not felt by people.
The first and strongest of the tremors occurred at 9.48pm and measured 4.7 on the Richter scale. Its epicentre was 114 kilometres north of Paphos, 40km below sea level.
The final tremor was recorded by Solomi’s instruments at 4.58am yesterday morning and measured 3.4 on the Richter scale.
Solomi said the quakes were caused by, “activity in the Cyprian arc, on the boundary of the African and Eurasian plates. Polis Chrysochous was the closest place to the epicentre of the swarm of quakes which were all located between 114 and 124 km north-west of the town.”
Solomi explained that no further tremors were expected.
The strongest earthquake in the island’s recent history occurred on October 9, 1996, when a quake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale was felt on the island. The most destructive quake last century happened in September 1953 and claimed the lives of 63 people. One-hundred-and-fifty-eight villages in the Paphos district were affected.
Earthquakes
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Earthquakes
by Sotos » Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:28 pm
I hope we will not have any more! I still remember the one in 1996!
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by devil » Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:02 am
You can read more about quakes here
The August 1999 one was 5.2 Richter with the epicentre deep, to the N. of Limassol. Little damage was caused, no fatalities but two persons were taken to hospital with broken legs (having jumped in panic from a balcony). For those with a penchant for omens, it happened on the same day as an eclipse of the sun!
The August 1999 one was 5.2 Richter with the epicentre deep, to the N. of Limassol. Little damage was caused, no fatalities but two persons were taken to hospital with broken legs (having jumped in panic from a balcony). For those with a penchant for omens, it happened on the same day as an eclipse of the sun!
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by miltiades » Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:13 am
I know I mentioned this before but the word "earthquake " always brings to mind my experience as a 7 year old on the morning of September the 10th 1953 when the biggest earthquake of the last century struck my village .
I think we had 22 people dead , including my mother , I recall every second of the experience and took years to eradicate the painful memory of seeing so many people dead and injured. At the age of 7 I realized the full meaning of the word NEVER (POTE ) as I kept asking the local priest " will I see my mum again " only to hear this word which somehow kept reverberating in my brain Never , tried comprehending the extent of never is a harrowing experience.Let us hope that was the biggest and the last.
I think we had 22 people dead , including my mother , I recall every second of the experience and took years to eradicate the painful memory of seeing so many people dead and injured. At the age of 7 I realized the full meaning of the word NEVER (POTE ) as I kept asking the local priest " will I see my mum again " only to hear this word which somehow kept reverberating in my brain Never , tried comprehending the extent of never is a harrowing experience.Let us hope that was the biggest and the last.
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