The 1999 Athens earthquake occurred on September 7 at near Mount Parnitha in Greece with a moment magnitude of 6.0 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The proximity to the Athens metropolitan area resulted in widespread structural damage, mainly to the nearby suburban towns of Ano Liosia, Acharnes, Fyli, Thrakomakedones,

Kifissia Kifisia or Kifissia (also Kephisia or Cephissia; , ) is a municipality and one of the most affluent northern suburbs in the Athens agglomeration, Attica, Greece, mainly accessed via Kifissias Avenue, running all the way from central Athens up to ...

, Metamorfosi,

Kamatero Kamatero ( ; officially ΚαματερόνNational Statistic Service of Greece surveys. Last accessed December 4, 2009. (in Greek) ) is a town and a suburb in the central-western part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. Since the 2011 local gove ...

and

Nea Filadelfeia Nea Filadelfeia (, meaning ''New Philadelphia'') is a suburban town in the Athens agglomeration, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it has been part of Nea Filadelfeia-Nea Chalkidona municipality of Central Athens regional unit, o ...

. More than 100 buildings (including three major factories) across those areas collapsed trapping scores of victims under their rubble while dozens more were severely damaged. With damage estimated at $3–4.2 billion, 143 people were killed, and up to 1,600 were treated for injuries in Greece's deadliest natural disaster in almost half a century.

Tectonic setting

Greece is a seismically active country, located in a complex zone of interaction of the African, Eurasian,

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

, and Anatolian plates.

Southern Greece Southern Greece () is a loosely defined geographical term, usually encompassing the Peloponnese peninsula and varying parts of Continental Greece (Attica is usually included), as well as the islands of the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, and Crete. I ...

itself is located on the Aegean Sea plate. The Anatolian Plate is moving southwest into the Aegean Sea plate at a rate of 3 cm per year relative to the Eurasian plate. Meanwhile, the African plate subduction beneath the Aegean Sea plate at a rate of 4 cm per year along the Hellenic Subduction Zone.

Damage

The 1999 quake was the most devastating and costly

natural disaster A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community brought by natural phenomenon or Hazard#Natural hazard, hazard. Some examples of natural hazards include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides ...

to hit the country in nearly 20 years. The last major earthquake to hit Athens took place on February 24, 1981, near the Alkyonides Islands of the

Corinthian Gulf The Gulf of Corinth or the Corinthian Gulf (, ) is a deep inlet of the Ionian Sea, separating the Peloponnese from western mainland Greece. It is bounded in the east by the Isthmus of Corinth which includes the shipping-designed Corinth Canal and ...

, some 87 km to the west of the Greek capital. Registering a moment magnitude of 6.7, the 1981 earthquake had resulted in the deaths of 20 people and considerable and widespread structural damage in the city of

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

, nearby towns and sections of Athens' western suburbs. Apart from the proximity of the epicenter to the Athens Metropolitan Area, this quake also featured a very shallow

hypocenter A hypocenter or hypocentre (), also called ground zero or surface zero, is the point on the Earth's surface directly below a nuclear explosion, meteor air burst, or other mid-air explosion. In seismology, the hypocenter of an earthquake is its ...

combined with unusually high ground accelerations. Unexpectedly heavy damage also affected the town of Adames. The

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens (; ) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several Ancient Greek architecture, ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, ...

and the rest of the city's famous ancient monuments escaped the disaster either totally unharmed or suffering only minor damage. A landslide as well as several fissures were reported along the road leading to the peak of Mount Parnitha. Regency Casino Mont Parnes was damaged by the earthquake, causing numerous rooms to collapse and the building's northeastern wing to detach from rest of the building. Minor damage was also reported to water and waste networks close to the epicenter.

Strong motion

This event took Greek seismologists by surprise as it came from a previously unknown fault, originating in an area that was for a long time considered of a particularly low seismicity. The highest recorded

peak ground acceleration Peak ground acceleration (PGA) is equal to the maximum ground acceleration that occurred during earthquake shaking at a location. PGA is equal to the amplitude of the largest absolute acceleration recorded on an wikt:accelerogram, accelerogram at a ...

was 0.3g, at 15 km from the epicentre, with attenuation predicting 0.6g acceleration at the centre.

Response

The tremor took place less than a month after a Turkish disaster which was much larger in scale. This succession of earthquakes and mutual help of both countries gave rise to talks about what became known as the " Greek-Turkish earthquake diplomacy", in hopes for a breakthrough in bilateral relations, which had been marred by decades of hostility. Turkey reciprocated the aid rendered by Greece immediately following the August 17, 1999 Turkish earthquake. A special taskforce was formed, consisting of the Undersecretariat of the Prime Ministry, the Turkish Armed Forces, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Internal Affairs and the Greek Embassy in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

was contacted. The Turkish aid was the first to arrive in the affected areas, with the first 20-person rescue team arriving in Athens within 13 hours after the earthquake struck. The Greek consulates and the embassy in Turkey had their phone lines jammed with Turkish citizens offering

blood donation A 'blood donation'' occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation (separation of whole blood components). A donation may be of wh ...

s."Bu dostluk bitmez"

References

Sources *Br J Surg. 2004 Dec;91(12):1633–40. Autopsy findings from 111 deaths in the 1999 Athens earthquake as a basis for auditing the emergency response. Papadopoulos IN1, Kanakaris N, Triantafillidis A, Stefanakos J, Kainourgios A, Leukidis C.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1999 Athens Earthquake Earthquakes in Greece

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

1990s in Athens Athens earthquake September 1999 in Europe 1999 disasters in Greece