4.9 Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Dodecanese Islands in Greece

A 5.1-magnitude struck off the south coast of Kassos, northeast of Crete, early Friday morning. According to the Greek Institute of Geodynamics, the 59km-deep quake hit 21km southwest of Kassos and 28km south of Karpathos in the southern Dodecanese islands. The Mediterranean region is seismically active due to the northward convergence (4-10 mm/yr) of the African plate with respect to the Eurasian plate along a complex plate boundary. Greece lies within this seismically active area. Earthquakes have historically caused widespread damage across central and southern Greece, the island of Crete, Cyprus, Sicily and other neighboring regions. In January, a series of strong earthquakes on the western island of Kefalonia damaged hundreds of homes and injured more than a dozen people.

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