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Damaging earthquake in Greece / Turkey (Aegean Sea) - at least 324 injured + a lot of damage
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Update May 28 : New numbers we could find by compiling different sources : Injured : 324 -299 houses damaged in Turkey, 133 severe ; 11houses collapsed in Greece, 13 and a few schools damaged We could not find the number of collapsed houses in Turkey but we are sure that they had many.
Update May 25 11:44 UTC : Just in : M5.2 aftershock - felt until Istanbul, Turkey
ER expects even stronger aftershocks in the earthquake epicenter area. These aftershocks will gradually reduce in strength but can go on for weeks.
Until now, all of the strong aftershocks are located below the Sea floor but are gradually moving to the mainland (NE)
Update May 25 07:33 UTC : We have reports that minor damage was also inflicted in Bulgaria
Update May 25 07:13 UTC : The faith of people after an earthquake "tenting under the sky" or too dangerous to stay inside the house. The aftershocks continued all night
Twitter image courtesy @YonHaber
Update 23:02 UTC : The most official number we could find about the injured was reported by the Governor of Cannakale. He said that 278 people were injured. The vast majority of them could return home after treatment.
- 2 churches and 10 mosques have been damaged to various extend.
Update 17:01 UTC : The screenshot below shows the area where the strongest aftershocks have been located. All of them luckily below the Aegean Sea
Update 16:38 UTC : People in the greater earthquake area will have a very uncertain night as the aftershocks are continuing. Sad to tell that 1 person passed away after a heart attack (afterwards the text on this article was removed!) . The number of injured differs following the source but will run into the hundreds. (source elazighaberi.com)
Image courtesy and copyright elazighaberi.com
Update 15:29 UTC : Greece looks to be escaped at serious damage. Only 1 person (an English tourist) was injured in Lemnos. A shelter at the Lemnos airport collapsed. Many abandoned houses and a church was damaged too. The damage in Turkey is far bigger than in Greece.
Update 14:10 UTC : For those among our readers living in Istanbul Turkey, let this earthquake be a reminder of what can happen in the immediate vicinity of Istanbul as today's earthquake happened on THE SAME NORTH ANATOLIAN FAULT.
BE EARTHQUAKE PREPARED AT ALL TIMES!
Update 14:10 UTC : The outcome of wounded is increasing every hour (as expected). At this moment official numbers are mentioning 266 people injured 1 seriously (Turkey numbers). NO word yet from Greece.
Below the complex tectonic setting in the region of today's magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Greece
Understanding the May 24 Greece / Turkey M6.9 earthquake
The May 24, 2014 M 6.9 earthquake south of the island of Samothraki, Greece, occurred as the result of strike-slip faulting at shallow depths beneath the northern Aegean Sea. Preliminary faulting mechanisms for the event indicate slip occurred on either a SSE-NNW trending left-lateral fault, or on a WSW-ENE trending right lateral structure. The location of the earthquake and orientation of the WSW-ENE nodal plane are consistent with right-lateral faulting within the North Aegean Trough. Right-lateral strike-slip faults within this trough (also called the Saros Trough at its eastern extent) and the surrounding region accommodate the westward motion of Turkey and associated southwestward motion of the Aegean region with respect to Eurasia. Faults within the North Aegean Trough represent the northern branch of the North Anatolian fault system, the major transform faulting structure in northern Turkey accommodating the westward motion of the Anatolian microplate with respect to Eurasia, at a rate of approximately 25 mm/yr.
The northern Aegean Sea hosts fairly frequent moderate-to-large earthquakes; there have been 21 events of M 6 or greater within 250 km of the May 24, 2014 earthquake since the beginning of the 20th century. Several of these are located along the trend of the North Aegean Trough, including M 6.6 and 6.7 earthquakes in January 1982 and August 1983, approximately 65 and 100 km to the southwest of the May 24 2014 event, respectively, and an M 6.7 earthquake in March 1975, 55 km to the northeast. The largest nearby earthquake was an M 7.6 event in August 1912 near the western end of the Sea of Marmara, 135 km east-northeast of the May 24, 2014 earthquake. The 1912 event is thought to have caused approximately 200 fatalities. (source USGS)
Image courtesy Dr. Stephen Hicks
Update 13:12 UTC : The tremors from this earthquake were felt as far as Israel!. Israel had thus a very busy earthquake day with another earthquake they have felt in the Dead Sea area
Update 13:03 UTC : In the meantime we have noticed a lot of aftershocks, some of them moderate to strong.
Update 12:43 UTC : The Governor of Canakkale has reported that at least 105 people have been treated for various injuries. Based on our experience, this number will be likely increasing further. Below a shaking video recorded in Canakkale, Turkey. The shaking seems to have been fierce but (luckily) did not last long.
Link to another video showing Turkey Damage (Turkish spoken)
Update 12:36 UTC : Dogan news agency said the temblor caused damage to some old houses on the island of Gokceada, off Turkey's northern Aegean coast, and 30 people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
Update 12:26 UTC : Seismologist Dr. Stephen Hicks reports on Twitter account that this earthquake occurred along the westernmost strand of the Northern Anatolian Fault system. Today's earthquake looks to be the largest recorded in this part of the fault since detailed records are available (1970)
Update 11:33 UTC : HUGE PANIC while the shaking started in Canakkale Turkey - Check this Hurryet video to see what happened or click on the ilage below (screenshot Video)
Update 11:26 UTC : Only sparse messages coming out. So far only damage reported in Greece on abandoned structures : houses.
Update 10:49 UTC : First damage picture from Canakkale Turkey were a number of walls have collapsed
Twitter image @twitersor
Update 10:43 UTC : A first (unconfirmed) report from SAMOTHRAKI says that an old temple was demolished (hthey also said that he was already in bad shape). No word of other damage or injuries yet but this will follow of course.
Update 10:38 UTC : Deteriorating data for the epicenter area. USGS has now reported new recalculated data mentioning a much higher Magnitude of M6.9 (vs 6.4 before). Depth is set at 10 km (unsure value). Compare the coloring of the map with the map below = much more shaking expected at the nearby Turkish coast.
Update 10:21 UTC : The current aftershocks are striking very close to the Turkey Canakkale coast
Update 10:17 UTC : Still NO reports from the closest islands. Below the Geofon seismogram recorded at Zakros, Crete
Update 10:03 UTC : Below the theoretical intensity shaking data as expected by USGS. We keep our estimate that the island of SAMOTHRAKI is at very high risk for serious damage. Good thing is that the structures on the island are seemingly all 1 storey houses.
SAMOTHRAKI - Kamariotissa Courtesy and Copyright: Kostas G. Rarakos
Update 09:52 UTC : The Geofon preliminary focal mechanism of this earthquake looks very bad as it shows a strike-slip type earthquake with a mainly horizontal movement.
Update 09:50 UTC : This earthquake was also felt in neighboring countries like Bulgaria and Romania
Update 09:49 UTC : The first aftershocks are already raging in the epicentral area. Some stronger than M5!
Update 09:43 UTC : Shaking map below shows strong to very strong shaking on the Greek Islands - Damage may at least be expected on these islands
Update : Preliminary data are showing M6.4 at a shallow depth of 6.4 km. Hard to say whether strong waves will be generated because we have no Focal Mechanism yet.
ER calls this earthquake VERY DANGEROUS for the nearby Greece islands and the Turkish coast like Cannakale
18km (11mi) S of Kamariotissa, Greece
69km (43mi) SSW of Alexandroupolis, Greece
78km (48mi) ESE of Potos (Thassos), Greece
83km (52mi) WNW of Canakkale, Turkey
299km (186mi) NNE of Athens, Greece
Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 6.9
Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2014-05-24 12:25:01
GMT/UTC Time : 2014-05-24 09:25:01
Depth (Hypocenter) : 27 km
Depth and Magnitude updates in the list below.
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