Kostas Papazachos: The 3 Zones in Greece Prone to Major Earthquakes

According to Professor of Geophysics at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Kostas Papazachos, an earthquake like the one in Myanmar could never happen in Greece. As he explained, ‘for an earthquake to measure so high on the Richter scale with a rupture spanning hundreds of kilometers, it must occur in a zone that can accommodate it.’ He clarified that ‘an earthquake like Myanmar’s cannot happen anywhere,’ and emphasized that ‘in the Greek region, such zones are primarily three.’ According to Mr. Papazachos, these are ‘mainly the outer Greek arc, from Kefalonia and south of the Peloponnese, along the coasts of Crete and from Karpathos to Rhodes. Then there is the trench of the northern Aegean. There is also a final zone passing through Amorgos, which has produced a smaller earthquake than yesterday’s. Thus, there are such areas in the Greek region that have experienced major earthquakes but very rarely.’ Furthermore, he addressed whether our country can manage such seismic activity. ‘We lack experience with such earthquakes. These earthquakes I mentioned are very old; in 1956, we did not witness such destruction. We had a 7.5 Richter earthquake in Amorgos, quite similar. The sea and the fact that there were no tall buildings protected us and prevented such phenomena.’