The 1953 Ionian earthquake (also known as the Great Kefalonia earthquake) struck the southern Ionian Islands in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

on August 12. In mid-August, there were over 113 recorded earthquakes in the region between

Kefalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia ( el, Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It ...

and Zakynthos, and the most destructive was the August 12 earthquake. The event measured 6.8 on the

moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pa ...

, raised the whole island of Kefalonia by , and caused widespread damage throughout the islands of

and Zakynthos. The maximum felt intensity of shaking was X (''extreme'') on the

Mercalli intensity scale The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the ef ...

. Between 445 and 800 people were killed.

Earthquake

The earthquake struck at 09:23:55 (UTC) or 11:23:55 (local time); the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

vessels HMS ''Gambia'' and HMS ''Bermuda'' were among the first on the scene. In addition, four Israeli warships received calls for help coming from the island of Kefalonia and the ships headed to the island. The sailors provided emergency medical aid, food, and water. This was the first time Israel provided aid to a disaster-stricken area. Although known as the "Great Kefalonia earthquake", damage was very heavy in Zakynthos' eponymous capital city. Only two buildings survived there; the rest of the island's capital had to be rebuilt.

Argostoli Argostoli ( el, Αργοστόλι, Katharevousa: Ἀργοστόλιον) is a town and a municipality on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is one of the three municipalities on the isl ...

, the capital of Kefalonia, suffered substantial damage and all of Kefalonia's buildings were flattened except for those in

Fiskardo Fiskardo (Greek: Φισκάρδο, also ''Fiscardo'' or in the past ''Viscardo'') is a village and a community on the Ionian island of Kefalonia, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Erisos. It is the northernmost port of Kefalonia, a sh ...

in the far north.

Damage

As well as causing major destruction on the two islands, the economic impact was far greater, and damage was estimated to have totaled billions of

drachmas The drachma ( el, δραχμή , ; pl. ''drachmae'' or ''drachmas'') was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history: # An ancient Greek currency unit issued by many Greek city states during a period of ten centuries, fr ...

. Many people fled the island: some people temporarily moved to the capital, however the majority emigrated out of Greece entirely to countries such as Canada, USA, Australia or the UK, leaving both the islands and their economy in ruins. On November 15, 1953 The Greek state issued a special set of 2

stamp Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents ...

s dedicated to the earthquake. One stamp was of 300 drachmas value (equivalent to $10 in those days) depicting the collapsing bell tower of the Faneromeni Church at Zakynthos. The other stamp, denominated at 500 drachmas ($16,67), showed the damage to the famous De Bosset stone bridge at the Argostoli bay. The stamp set was issued in order to support financially the earthquake fund for the relief of those who had suffered. An Italian mission of the National Fire and rescue Services (Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco) was sent to help people and save heritage artifacts. Zante- CNVVF

Aftermath

Earthquakes still regularly affect the islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia, including several 2006 earthquakes in Zakynthos and others in 2003 and 2005. There were also several large earthquakes on January 26 and February 3, 2014, measuring 6.1 and 6.0 on the Richter scale. The epicenters of both were in Kefalonia at very shallow depths and caused damage in the island. On October 25, 2018 there was a 6.8 magnitude earthquake off the coast that damaged parts of the Zante port docks. Following that quake, there were more than 50 additional quakes over 4 magnitude in the Ionian Sea between the 25th and the end of October.

References

External links

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The earthquake of Kefalonia in 1953
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Natural History Museum of Crete The Natural History Museum of Crete (NHMC) ( el, Μουσείο Φυσικής Ιστορίας Κρήτης, ΜΦΙΚ) in Heraklion, Crete is a natural history museum that operates under the auspices of the University of Crete. Its aim is the st ...

{{Authority control Ionian Earthquake, 1953 Earthquakes in Greece Earthquake clusters, swarms, and sequences Ionian Earthquake, 1953 History of Cephalonia August 1953 events in Europe 1953 disasters in Greece

Earthquake

Damage

Aftermath

See also

References

Further reading

External links