Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake Strikes Greek Island of Kefalonia; Again

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off western Greece early on Monday, near the island of Kefalonia. The strong quake struck 8 miles west of Argostoli in the Ionian Sea at a relatively shallow depth of 8.5 miles at 0308 GMT, the United States Geological Survey said. The Athens Geodynamic Institute registered Monday’s quake initially at 5.9 and later revised it at 5.7. An aftershock of 4.5 magnitude followed at 5.16 am. Four Kefalonia residents were slightly injured. Some damages were reported at a local hospital and port in the village of Lixouri. Monday’s earthquake was felt on the nearby islands of Zakinthos and Ithaca as well as in western Greek mainland including the city of Patras. Kefalonia was struck by another magnitude 5.9, earthquake that damaged dozens of buildings and injured seven people on Jan 26. Since then thousands of residents have been spending nights with relatives or in ships sent to be used as temporary housing. The recent seismic activity in the area brings back memories of 1953 when the whole island was devastated by three strong quakes. Back in 1953, within 4 days, from August 9 to 12, the island was struck by three great earthquakes, all measuring above 6 on the Richter scale (6.4 on August 9, 6.8 on August 11 and 7.2 on August 12) and caused the death of 455 people.

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