The 2008 Peloponnese earthquake killed two people, injured more than 220 and left at least 2,000 people homeless in north western

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

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 June 8. The earthquake hit the area at 1525 EET (1325 UTC), with a

moment magnitude 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 ...

of 6.5, according to the Athens Geodynamic Institute. It was strongly felt as far away as in

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 ...

and in parts of southern Italy. The

US Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

reported that the quake had a magnitude of 6.4. The epicenter of the tremor was located about 15 miles (32 km) southwest of the Greek port city of

Patras Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

, at a depth of 16 km. Interior Minister

Prokopis Pavlopoulos Prokopios "Prokopis" Pavlopoulos (, ; born 10 July 1950) is a Greek retired politician, who served as the president of Greece from 2015 to 2020. A member of New Democracy (Greece), New Democracy, he previously was Ministry of the Interior (Greece ...

dispatched rescue and recovery teams (including members of five government agencies), the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

and units of the army in order to assess the damage and the needs of survivors in the earthquake affected areas.

Earthquake

The earthquake of June 8, 2008, was generated by stresses resulting from the motion of the small Aegean Sea plate southwest with respect to the

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

plate with a velocity of about 30 mm/y. The boundary between the Aegean plate and the Eurasia plate in central Greece is diffuse. Seismicity is concentrated in east-trending and northeast-trending zones of deformation. The east-trending zones are characterized by predominantly normal faulting. The northeast-trending zones are characterized by predominantly strike-slip faulting earthquakes. The focal mechanism of the earthquake of June 8 is consistent with the shock having been caused by strike-slip faulting similar to that occurring within the northeast-trending zones. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the largest crustal earthquakes of central Greece have had magnitudes of about 7.2.

Damage

USGS Shakemap - 2008 Peloponnese earthquake

At least 1,156 buildings damaged or destroyed in the cities of

Achaea Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek language, Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwest ...

and

Elis Elis also known as Ellis or Ilia (, ''Eleia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it ...

. This earthquake generated enough power to cause damage to structures over an area of 2000 square kilometers. It was reportedly felt 350 kilometers away from the epicenter. Within the 2000 square kilometers of the damaged area many landslides and rockfalls took place. Heavily affected villages by this natural disaster were Portes,

Santomeri Santomeri (Greek: Σαντομέρι) is a village and a community in the municipal unit of Olenia, Achaea, Greece. It is located on the northern end of Mount Skollis, 5 km north of Portes, Achaea, Portes, 18 km south of Kato Achaia and ...

and Valmi. Although there were occurrences of rockfalls and landslides as far away as on the island of Leukas. This island is located 100 kilometers away from the epicenter. The villages of Portes and Santomeri are located at the foot of the mountain, Skollis Mountain. This is a mountain with very steep cliffs of loose rocks such as sandstone, and higher up there are cliffs of limestone. During the earthquake there was significant damage done to these cliffs of the

Skollis Skollis (), also known as Santameri, is a mountain in southwestern Achaea in the Peloponnese in western Greece. Its elevation is .rockslide A rockslide is a type of landslide caused by rock failure in which part of the bedding plane of failure passes through compacted rock and material collapses ''en masse'' and not in individual blocks. Note that a rockslide is similar to an ava ...

s and landslides. There is account of limestone rock falling from this mountain, which struck a house in the village of Santomeri and caused serious structural damage, but there were no casualties in this incident.

Ground effects

A search was conducted in order to locate any damage done to the Earth's surface in the form of surface ruptures. This search was heavily conducted in and around the Kato Achaea train station. The Kato Achaia

Train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

station is located about four fifths of a kilometer from the coastline. This search took place two days after the incident of the earthquake. The search consisted of a mapping of the train station, discussion with a station operator, and a careful process of observing the ground. There was significant notable damage done to the rails of the station. In the northern part of the station there was both compression and extension damage noted on the ground. This did damage to the Kato Achaia train station's rails. Although the rails were replaced before the inspection began. This was done to continue the operation of the station immediately after the earthquake occurred. On the southern side of the station there was obvious evidence of compression damage done to the rails. The movements of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

caused the southern rails to buckle together, making them unusable.

Aftermath

The villages of Santomeri and Portes have both been declared hazardous areas. They have been evacuated due to the damage done to the Skollis Mountain by the earthquake. The falling

Limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

from the village is a major

Hazard A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that ...

, and the government decided that no more risks are to be taken. Along with the

evacuation Evacuation or Evacuate may refer to: * Casualty evacuation (CASEVAC), patient evacuation in combat situations * Casualty movement, the procedure for moving a casualty from its initial location to an ambulance * Emergency evacuation, removal of pers ...

, some of the damage done to the Kato Achaia train station has been repaired in the form of replaced rails within

two 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and the only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many ...

days of the occurrence of the earthquake. This was to keep the train station in operation.

References

External links