Strong earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale in Heraklion: people on the streets

Last night, at 21:58, the seismological network of the Geodynamic Institute of the National Observatory of Athens registered a strong earthquake in Crete with a magnitude of 5.1 points.

The epicenter, according to the Athens Geodynamic Institute, is located 7 km southwest of Heraklion. The focus depth was 8.9 km. Residents of Mires, Timbaki and villages on the border with southern Rethymno left their homes and ran out into the streets.

Residents received a message from the civil defense on their mobile phones to take the necessary protective measures, ekriti reports. Seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos noted that “local authorities are introducing protective measures.” Mayor of Phaistos Gregory Nikolidakis said:

“There has been strong seismic activity for about 24 hours now, and we don’t know what’s going on. There have been earthquakes, but they’ve never been this strong, and that worries us.”

The director of the Geodynamic Institute, Akis Tselentis, published a message about an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, which occurred on the night of Thursday (May 18) in Heraklion, Crete:

This is a continuation of a sequence that started two days ago. It is still too early to draw safe conclusions about the evolution of the phenomenon. There are faults in the area that can give big shocks. Due to the poor structure of the area, caution is required, and if the buildings are old, especially stone ones, let’s avoid them. In the next few hours, due to the shallow depth of the source, you will see many aftershocks.

According to the regional commander of the fire service of Crete Giorgos Tsikalas, cars with firefighters are constantly on duty in order to identify possible problems. Seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos wrote in a Facebook post:

“Requires careful monitoring and evaluation by scientists, protective measures by local authorities, as envisaged by the operational plan ΕΓΚΕΛΑΔΟΣ. The Greek government must realize the need to implement it.”

The earthquake that rocked Crete was felt as far as the coast of Turkey, and the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center recorded its magnitude at 5.2.

Seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos, in his statements, reassured, but emphasized the need to be vigilant:

“We need not anxiety, but calmness. There are no strong earthquakes in this area, we do not have historical earthquakes. But there is always a but. When a 5.1 magnitude quake occurs on an island and not in the sea when it was preceded by smaller ones, then monitoring is necessary. I will say what I always say. Municipalities must take mandatory measures. Whether we have an earthquake or not, protective measures must be taken. This is a continuation of the sequence that started two days ago. It is still too early to draw reliable conclusions about the development of this phenomenon. Since there are several faults in the area, I make a small disclaimer. However, at the moment this is an area with not particularly high seismicity. That is, this region is not characterized by a strong earthquake. The fault that has been activated is lateral vertical with an east-west direction. He is NOT associated with either Arkalochori or Heraklion. However, due to the short distance from Heraklion and the mechanism of occurrence, it was very noticeable, as were the expected aftershocks.”

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