January 8, 2006 Greece Earthquake

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Posting Date: January 9, 2006, 7:00:00 AM

A strong earthquake struck just offshore of southern Greece at 11:34 UTC (1:34 p.m. local time) on Sunday, January 8, 2006. The USGS estimates the moment magnitude at 6.6 and the focal depth at 48 kilometers. The earthquake was centered 200 kilometers south of Athens and was felt as far away as Italy, Jordan and Cairo. Reports indicate that three people were injured. Dozens of buildings sustained minor damage, while as many as 50 older, unoccupied buildings collapsed on the island of Kithira. The tectonics of the eastern Mediterranean is a broad boundary region between three major tectonic plates, the Eurasia, Africa, and Arabia plates. Most shallow earthquakes in central and northern Greece (depths less than 50 km) result from interaction between the Eurasia plate and the small Aegean Sea plate, which is moving southwest with respect to the Eurasia plate at a velocity of about 30 mm/year. The seismotectonics of southern Greece are governed primarily by the motion of the Africa plate with respect to the relatively small Aegean Sea plate. The Africa plate subducts beneath the Aegean Sea plate along the Hellenic arc, from the western Peloponnesus through Crete and Rhodes to western Turkey, at a rate of almost 40 mm/year.

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Posting Date: January 9, 2006, 7:00:00 AM