6,5 scale earthquake in the Aegean, 30 min ago

[Kyriakos]

There was an earthquake in the general area, half an hour ago. According to the first official announcements, it was in the region of 6,5 (which is quite large) and the epicenter was in the northern Aegean, near the island of Samothrace. I hope that the Koryvantian dancers won't be now freed from the underworld or something, but the quake was felt in most of northern Greece, and also up to Athens, and is reported to have been lasting for a while (not sure how long). I was out for a walk so did not feel anything. But 6,5 is no small earthquake. The previous of such a size in this region was around 17 years ago, while the larger one in recent times was in 1978, just a few months prior to my birth to this world (the earthquake announced it, of course ).

There will be more news later. I wonder how felt it was in Turkey as well, cause it obviously would be.

http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=22768&subid=2&pubid=64012241

 

[r16]

the web cafe ı am sitting in right now has one they call an hanging floor , an area that's carried by comparatively limited structural elements . It moved around a bit , maybe half a minute . In '99 there was quite a noise as well . This being a silent affair one could really think about others who might be getting seriously hurt at the moment .

kids have looked up in the net , from them ı hear it's 7.2 . Typical enlargement of the severity from a distance , just like Americans always report higher values . Must be something about the sensors .

 

[Kyriakos]

^Different institutions give different estimates, as always, but if it went on for half a min, that is not good at all... I at least hope it was the main earthquake, cause a 6,5 precursor to something...is rather alarming :/

 

[gay_Aleks]

Yeah, felt that one even though I live waaaay up in Northern Bulgaria.

 

[Winner]

Is Greece breaking off Europe already?

 

[gay_Aleks]

Just the Peloponnese, Winner. The Spartan spirits cannot into EU.

 

[Kyriakos]

Winner tried to get into the Immortals, but he is frustrated that they only allowed him in the foreign lightly-armed subject-peoples bulk of the armies of the aryan empire

 

[CavLancer]

When the 7.2 hit Bohol every last thing was in motion. Thousands of aftershocks later, among them several 5.0 plus, I have a pretty good feel for these things and can tell you that at the epicenter a 6.5 can have quite an effect, but as you get just 20 kilometers farther away it was likely not too bad. A lot depends on the depth. Hard shocks at shallow depths, not so bad deeper in the crust.

Keep in mind that a 6.6 would be twice as bad as a 6.5. I predict that there will be little damage from this. A 7.0 would be 5 times as bad. Each .1 is double, each 1. is 10 times.

 

[Kyriakos]

Supposedly (according to the news) there were 35 people injured (to some degree), among them some tourists in the islands near the epicenter. No new quake felt, at least where i am.

 

[Paul in Saudi]

Earthquake death and damage reports are unreliable at first. The areas not hurt too bad report they are OK, but the badly-hit areas have trouble with roads and communications. I hope the initial reports are correct.

 

[r16]

the casualties in Turkey are 267 , 2 cases of panic attacks and people jumping out of high places to get out . '99 has pretty bad influences on everyone .

 

[CavLancer]

They forget to put metal bar in concrete posts. I saw the pics last go round, broken posts with no bar stinking out, collapsed buildings, crying ladies, broken families. Someone saved a few bucks or the contractor wasn't checked up on. Maybe they got paid but forgot to put it in? Maybe the landlord could afford to go up one more floor if they saved on metal?

 

[Rashiminos]

Keep in mind that a 6.6 would be twice as bad as a 6.5. I predict that there will be little damage from this. A 7.0 would be 5 times as bad. Each .1 is double, each 1. is 10 times.

Your math is slightly off. It's around .3 for a doubling if the scale is logarithmic with a base of 10.

 

[CavLancer]

Okay, yet 1. is ten times to my understanding, and the scale is in tenths...

 

[Rashiminos]

Okay, yet 1. is ten times to my understanding, and the scale is in tenths...

It's a logarithmic scale (using base 10), so a mag 7 earthquake is "10 times as powerful"* as a mag 6.

log10(2) ~ .3, It's slightly more, but .3 is close enough.

Spoiler :

If each tenth of the scale was a doubling, then a mag 7 earthquake would be "2^10=1024 times more powerful"* than a mag 6.

A mag 6.3 earthquake is roughly "twice as powerful"* as a mag 6.

*Referring to amplitude of shaking, not actual energy release. It's around 32 times per whole increase in magnitude for energy released (see below).

In fact, I might as well link wikipedia for clarification.

 

[r16]

They forget to put metal bar in concrete posts.

ı have worked a lot in construction with my late father . Who actually made his name with building strong , many times talking the owners into spending money on the iron for those columns to carry the upper floor . Which then we would be working an extra day or two before starting with the bricks . Those posts could be real tough to fill too , shovelling wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of cement .

this was during the times of lax controls when people could get away with lots of things . Anyhow some 5 or 10 years after the big one of 99 some guy told me that my father had built their home some 20 years back and it was damaged in the tremors . ı must have been visibly hurt , 'cause he added their plot was on a filled sandpit anyhow .

after the quake , the controls were tightened ; since insurance was now compulsory and all those insurance companies kinda had affiliates abroad . Chalk up one for satisfactory foreign meddling in Turkey ...

 

[CavLancer]

Rashiminos, okay, whatever works. Thanks for looking that up.

r16, that's great. Felt sorry for the people who lost it all. Don't know how the insurance companies are going to manage however, unless they have a deep pool of people who can't be bought watching over the construction sites.

 

[r16]

it's more of an awareness issue . There are no guarentees that the constructors won't cheat , but people would prefer the stronger one if they had a choice . The economic boom has undoubtedly put money into people's pockets , they are able to choose . Will lead to improved standards . Inevitable given time .

 

[CavLancer]

Glad to hear it.

The recent 7.2 here on the island of Bohol in the Philippines exposed several houses that were not built right. Again houses which had heavy damage and no bar.

Still I see in the malls folks looking at pretty pictures of houses and I assume buying them. No idea of the standards employed by the builders, just pretty pictures of pretty houses. That's all it takes with some folks.

No damage to my place besides a few paint chips off.