Rhodes earthquake: British holiday hotspot in Greece rocked by 4.8 magnitude quake – World News

A popular holiday destination in Greece has been hit by an earthquake.

Rhodes was rocked by the earthquake on Wednesday night which measured 4.8 on the Richter scale. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) said the epicenter of the earthquake was detected in the Aegean Sea, about 67 km (41 miles) southwest of the island.

The quake, seismologists said, was “relatively shallow”, just 51 km. They said the scale could change in the coming hours as it is more closely scrutinized.

Based on its location and magnitude, Wednesday’s quake is understood not to have caused any serious damage, but would have been felt by people on the island. Nearby towns such as Gennadi, Lardos, Archangelos and the island capital of Rhodes – which is popular with British tourists – may have felt weak tremors, EMSC said. The Greek press said it was also felt in Turkey.

An EMSC spokesman said: “Our monitoring service identified a second report by the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) which also listed the 4.9 magnitude earthquake. Based on preliminary seismic data, the earthquake should not have caused significant damage, but it was probably felt by many people as a slight vibration in the area of ​​the epicenter.”

The worst earthquake in Greek history occurred in 1956 in Amorgos in the Cyclades archipelago, which measured 7.7 and destroyed several buildings on the island as well as nearby Santorini. About 53 died and 100 were injured in the disaster, after a tsunami also resulted.