ATHENS - A magnitude 5.1 earthquake
rattled the Greek capital Athens on Friday, briefly knocking out
power and telecommunications in parts of the city and sending
people running from buildings in panic.
The European Earthquake Monitoring Centre recorded the
quake's epicentre at a point 22 km northwest of the
city. Its website quoted a witness as saying the quake was
"strong but fortunately not very long", while another compared
it to a "strong bounce" lasting about 15 seconds.
The Acropolis, a complex of ancient Greek buildings
including the Parthenon located on a rocky hilltop overlooking
the capital, was intact, according to the authorities. It is one
of the world's most visited historical landmarks.
Reuters correspondents saw people evacuating buildings in
the sprawling capital, and hundreds crammed into central
Syntagma Square.
Three people including a Belgian tourist were lightly
injured by falling debris, health ministry officials said. In
the port city of Piraeus, an abandoned structure on a port quay
collapsed.
The quake occurred at a depth of 15 km (9.3 miles) in an
area affected by earthquakes in the past. Greece, along with
Turkey, is among the most tremor-prone regions of Europe.
"The earthquake was close to the surface, which is why it
was felt so much," seismologist Manolis Skordilis told Greece's
Star TV.
Citizens' Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis said
there had been 30 calls asking the fire brigade for help in
rescuing people trapped in elevators, while some abandoned
buildings were damaged.
He said the sequence of post-quake tremors was normal, which
the Athens Geodynamic Institute considered to be a positive
sign.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the response of
state services to the earthquake was satisfactory.
"We have learned to live with earthquakes, this was one more
quake," he told reporters after visiting the civil protection
coordinating centre in Athens, a metropolis of almost 4 million
people.
"The situation is gradually subsiding. The city withstood
this and can handle it. There is no cause for concern," said
Nikos Hardalias, general secretary for Civil Protection.
Around 40 minutes after the first tremor, residents felt
another strong quake, which the EMC rated magnitude 4.4, with an
epicentre in the same region at the foot of Mount Parnitha.
In 1999, an earthquake of magnitude 5.9 in the same area
killed 143 people.