An earthquake with 5.2 R rattled Central Greece and had residents rushing out of their homes on Friday morning. The earthquake occurred at 10:12 a.m. on 31. August 2018.
Its epicenter is located in Argithea, especially in the triangle of Drakotrypa – Pefkofyto-Oxya. in the mountain area West of Lake Plastira and 31 km west of the city of Karditsa in Central Greece.
The tremor occurred in a depth of 10 km.
Locals report that the earthquake was of “some duration.”
People in the area but also in Karditsa and the nearby city of Trikala rushed concerned out their homes and businesses but there were no incidents of panic.
Local media ThessaliaTV reports that it was especially the residents in the upper floors of multi-story buildings that felt the earthquake.
KarditsaLive reports that residents of Karditsa were gathered in squares and remained there short after the tremor stroke.
According to preliminary information, small scale rock landslides occurred in Drakotrypa outside Argithea and in the national road network in the area.
The earthquake has caused material damages to houses in the area of the epicenter. Many houses with damages are old and were empty after the summer vacations.
There are reports of problems with the water supply. A local told state broadcaster ERT that right after the earthquake, the water coming form the network was ‘red’ – very possibly due to soil.
The earthquake was felt across not only in Central but also in North and West Greece and even in Patras, 124 km away. The tremor was felt in Katerini, Volos, Lamia, Kozani, Grevena, Veroia, Ioannina, Arta, Nafpaktos and even on the islands of Corfu and Kefalonia in the Ionian Sea.
The tremor was felt also in several areas if the countries north of Greece like in Albania and FYROM.
Professor for Geophysics at the University of Thessaloniki Kostas Papazachos told newsit.gr, that “the earthquake was limited intensity for the area.” He added that the fault line in the area can trigger earthquakes with a magnitude of up to 6 – 6.5R.”
He said further that locals told him that there were minor damages to very old buildings.
So far there are no reports about injuries.
Municipality workers remove rocks from the road network.
The President of the Greek Earthquake Planning & Protection Organization, Eythimios Lekkas told newsbomb.gr, he believes that this was the main earthquake, even though it was to early for a definite conclusion.
“The tremor rattled almost the whole body of West Greece,” he said.
Stressing that seismologists closely monitor the seismic activity in the area, he urged locals to be calm.
Note that different seismological institutes automatically measuring earthquake give different magnitudes for the same earthquakes.
