Three earthquakes within just 25 minutes and magnitude 4.1 – 4.8 on the Richter scale rattled the island of Crete on Wednesday morning, August 7, 2024. Τhey were particularly felt throughout the island.
Three tremors occurred in the sea area off Heraklio and one onshore in Chania.
The first tremor was recorded at 11:11 a.m. with 3.5 R and its epicenter 12 km south of Kissamos. Its focal depth was 5 km.
A few minutes later, three earthquakes followed in Heraklion.
The first tremor occurred at 11:22 with a magnitude of 4.1 R and epicenter was Kalo Limeni, 42 km south of Moira in Heraklion. Its focal depth was 10 km.
One minute later, at 11:23 an even stronger earthquake with magnitude 4.8 R occurred in the same wider area of Heraklio. Its epicenter was 22 km south of Moira and its focal depth 15 km.
A third earthquake, probably an aftershock, struck with 4.5 R at 11:47.
So far, there are no injuries or material damages, state broadcaster ERT reported short after 12 noon.
#Earthquake 73 km S of #Irákleion (#Greece) 4 min ago (local time 11:23:57). Colored dots represent local shaking & damage level reported by eyeswitnesses. Share your experience via:
📱https://t.co/IbUfG7TFOL
🌐https://t.co/vF3hLtWEmd pic.twitter.com/7wCvt9iidz— EMSC (@LastQuake) August 7, 2024
Due to the low focal depth, the tremors were felt throughout the island, locals and tourists are concerned.
Local media cretalive.gr spoke with seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos who appeared reassuring saying:
There is no reason of concern as the epicenter is in the sea area, south of Kalo Limeni, but also the magnitude of the earthquakes is insignificant.”
In any case, seismologists are monitoring the phenomenon.
