The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
One dead and 20 injured as Crete hit by earthquake
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of at least 5.8 has struck the Greek island of Crete, killing one person and injuring 20 others.
Homes and churches were also damaged in the quake yesterday, which caused rock slides near the country’s fourth largest city.
People were sent fleeing into the streets in the city of Heraklion, and schools were evacuated.
Repeated aftershocks rattled the area, adding to damage in villages close to the epicentre.
“The earthquake was strong and was long in duration,” Heraklion mayor Vassilis Lambrinos told Antenna television.
The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the quake struck at 6.17am GMT, with an epicentre 153 miles (246km) south-southeast of the Greek capital Athens.
Hospital officials said 20 people had been treated for injuries, 10 of them receiving first aid.
“This is not an event that occurred without warning.
“We have seen activity in this region for several months,” seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos told Greece’s state broadcaster ERT.
“This was a strong earthquake, it was not under sea but under land and affecting populated areas.”
The EuropeanMediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) and the US Geological Survey gave a preliminary magnitude of 6.0, with an epicentre four miles (7km) north of the village of Thrapsano.
The Athens Geodynamic Institute said it was 5.8.
It is common for different seismological institutes to give varying magnitudes for an earthquake in the initial hours and days after an event.
Greece’s Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Ministry said one man had been killed. He was pulled from the rubble of a partially collapsed church in the village of Arkalochori, very close to the epicentre, authorities said.
Government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou said there were no reports of people missing or trapped under rubble.
Seismologist Efthimios Lekkas, who heads Greece’s Earthquake Planning and Protection Organisation, said inspections of critical buildings such as schools and hospitals had already begun.
“We are urging people who live in damaged older buildings to remain outdoors. One aftershock can cause a collapse,” Mr Lekkas said.
“We are talking about structures built before the 1970. Structures built after 1985 are built to a higher standard that can withstand the effect of an earthquake.”
Climate crisis and civil protection minister Christos Stylianides, who travelled to Crete, said a state of emergency was being declared in the area.
Local media said hundreds of homes had been damaged, including more than half the houses in Arkalochori.