earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

struck west of

Paphos Paphos ( el, Πάφος ; tr, Baf) is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. The current city of ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

on January 11, 2022, with a moment magnitude of 6.6. The earthquake was the largest tremor to occur in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

since the

2003 Boumerdès earthquake The 2003 Boumerdès earthquake occurred on May 21 at in northern Algeria. The shock had a moment magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). The epicentre of the earthquake was located near the town of Thénia in Boumerd ...

, and the largest to occur in

since

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

Tectonic setting

Cyprus is located in a complex zone of a boundary between the Anatolian and African Plates. These two plates are colliding along the Cyprus Arc, a tectonic boundary that runs south of the island. This

subduction zone Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, ...

is offset by a small

transform fault A transform fault or transform boundary, is a fault along a plate boundary where the motion is predominantly horizontal. It ends abruptly where it connects to another plate boundary, either another transform, a spreading ridge, or a subducti ...

known as the Paphos Transform Fault. This plate boundary, along with the Dead Sea Transform and East Anatolian Fault Leads to motion of the African and Arabian Plates. This has resulted in moderately destructive, occasional earthquakes, including a magnitude 7.0–7.5 in 1222 which severely impacted the island and generated a large

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

Earthquake

The earthquake was the largest in Cyprus since 1996, and was felt across the island as well as

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

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 wit ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. The earthquake had a thrust focal mechanism and was centred about from the coast.

Impact

Cyprus

Several structures received minor damage and objects fell from shelves in the

and

Lefke District Lefke District ( tr, Lefke İlçesi) is a district of Northern Cyprus. Its capital is Lefka, also known by its Turkish name, Lefke. It had been a sub-district of the Güzelyurt District between 1998 (when that district was separated from the Lefko ...

s. In

Kallepeia Kallepia (also known as Kallepeia Village) ( gr, Καλλέπια) is a village in the Paphos District of Cyprus, located 2 km south of Letymvou Letymvou (or ''Letymbou'') ( gr, Λετύμβου/Λετύμπου) is a village in the Paphos ...

, at least 1,586 chickens were killed in stampede caused by them panicking.

Egypt

In Damietta, the earthquake may have led to the collapse of a four-storey apartment several hours later, killing three people and injuring another. Two of the victims were men while another body had yet to be identified.

References

{{Earthquakes in 2022