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

Ionian Islands The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: , ; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: , ) are a archipelago, group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese ("Seven Islands"; , ''Heptanēsa'' or , ''Heptanē ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

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

Kefalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia (), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallonia (), 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 is also a separate regio ...

and

Zakynthos Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; ; ) or Zante (, , ; ; from the Venetian language, Venetian form, traditionally Latinized as Zacynthus) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands, with an are ...

, 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 Mwg, 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. was defined in a 1979 paper ...

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

and

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

Mercalli intensity scale The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS) measures the effects of an earthquake at a given location. This is in contrast with the seismic magnitude usually reported for an earthquake. Magnitude scales measure the inherent force or ...

. 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 naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

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 (, Katharevousa: ) is a town and a municipality on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands (region), Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is one of the three municipalities on the island. It has been the capi ...

, 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 s ...

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 Drachma may refer to: * Ancient drachma, an ancient Greek currency * Modern drachma, a modern Greek currency (1833...2002) * Cretan drachma, currency of the former Cretan State * Drachma proctocomys, moth species, the only species in the Genus '' ...

. 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 stamps dedicated to the earthquake. One stamp was of 300 drachmas value depicting the collapsing bell tower of the Faneromeni Church at Zakynthos. The other stamp, denominated at 500 drachmas, 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

*
The earthquake of Kefalonia in 1953
– Natural History Museum of Crete {{Authority control Ionian Earthquake, 1953 Earthquakes in Greece Earthquake clusters, swarms, and sequences Ionian Earthquake, 1953 History of Cephalonia August 1953 in Europe 1953 disasters in Greece

Earthquake

Damage

Aftermath

See also

References

Further reading

External links