January 2006 Southern Greece earthquake
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On January 8, 2006, at 1:34 p.m. local time, a powerful earthquake hit southern Greece and was felt throughout the entire eastern Mediterranean basin.
The quake had a moment magnitude of 6.9 and its epicentre was located just off the island of Kythira, some 200 km south of Athens. One person got injured and a number of buildings and roads in Kythira were heavily damaged as a result of the earthquake. Several older houses of the island completely collapsed while the central square of a village partially perished as a result of a subsequent landslide. On the island of Crete, 2 people were slightly injured in their attempt to abandon their homes. Few buildings were damaged on the mainland closest to the epicentre (Cape Malea).
Nevertheless, despite the magnitude and the duration of the tremor (buildings in Athens swayed for almost 40 seconds) no other significant injury or damage was reported in the country's strongest earthquake in decades. This was mainly due to the fact that the quake had a focal depth of approximately 65 km. The tremor was felt as far away as in Bari on the Adriatic Sea, Naples and much of southern Italy, Cairo and even along the Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli shorelines. Despite early fears of a subsequent tsunami no such event was recorded.
