The seismic sequence is progressing smoothly after the tremor that occurred this morning off Lassithi Crete.
“The evolution of the phenomenon appears to be normal,” after the earthquake of 5.7 Richter that occurred today in a sea area 23 km southwest of Goudoura Sitia, the director of the Geodynamic Institute of Athens National Observatory, Vassilis Karastathis.
Vassilis Karastathis stresses that the frequency of aftershocks is high, while so far 20 aftershocks have been recorded. “We have strong aftershocks at the level that are normally expected. So far we have 20 aftershocks recorded. The distance from the coast is significant enough so that we don’t have major damage to residential areas. From the whole picture it seems that we are doing quite well, however, we will have to look at it in a larger window of time to have more certainty in our assessments.What we are holding at the moment, which is early enough to make safe assessments, is that from the data so far, the evolution of the phenomenon so far seems to be normal,” he said. Karastathis.
In addition, he notes that there was a pre-seismic activity in the area, which mainly began to be observed on April 14, but on April 19 it intensified. “From there on, of course, one is never sure what will follow,” he stresses, adding that he was not surprised by this earthquake. Furthermore, Karastathis points out that this region has “great potential”, however, he stresses that earthquakes in the wider arc region with magnitudes of this order, i.e. around 5.7 to 6 degrees, “are typical magnitudes for this region”.
The earthquake tremor was strongly felt in a large part of the mainly southern coast, with residents of areas in both Sitia and Ierapetra getting out of bed. According to Mayor of Sitia George Zervakis, “the earthquake was intense and had a long duration. This caused inconvenience to residents, who are still feeling tremors, since aftershocks are likely to be recorded.”
Both the mayor of Sitia and the mayor of Ierapetra Manolis Fragoulis, who have been in contact, as they stressed early this morning, with all agencies, are recommending calmness to citizens, stressing that the phenomenon is being monitored.
From the checks that have been made so far and by the Fire Service, there have been no reports of damage. However, up to this hour, in the same area, after the 5.7 magnitude tremors, five more earthquakes have been recorded in the same area, with intensities ranging from 3.5 to 3.8 magnitude.
