Professor of Civil engineering specialized in Natural Disasters, Constantinos Synolakis, made a nightmarish prediction on Thursday saying that there may be a mega-earthquake of even 8.5 Richter in Greece.
Speaking to Mega TV, Synolakis noted that such mega-earthquakes occur every 600 years citing the example of the earthquake in Crete in 365 BC. when the island rose 10 meters due to the seismic tremor.
“The last major earthquake in Crete occurred in 1403 and it is estimated that such earthquakes occur every 600 to 800 years. We are already at the “window” of the century, when we may see a large earthquake in the Greek arc of the order of 8.5 Richter,” Synolakis said.
Following Synolakis predictions, Skai TV asked a relevant question to seismologist Gerasimos Houliaras.
“Historically in the past we have had earthquakes of this magnitude in Greece, so no one can rule out an earthquake of this magnitude in the Greek area as we have had 3-4 examples.” Houliaras responded.
He explained, however, that the fault that caused the earthquake in Turkey “is too far away from Greece to affect it seismically, i.e. to transfer stresses from this sequence to Greece.”
When asked about the domino theory, he said that “the earthquake happened at a distance of over 1,000 km from the Greek area. We saw this phenomenon in 9 hours when 100 km above the epicenter of the 7.8 Richter earthquake we had a 7.7 Richter earthquake.”
“I believe that such an earthquake in Greece would have less impact, we have better buildings and infrastructure, we also have the advantage in the geo-dynamics of Greece that most earthquakes occur in underwater areas. The buildings are what we have to pay attention to with constant checks, if we dedicate ourselves to them I think we will do well” Houliaras concluded.
*thumbnail picture from Turkey
