1999 Athens earthquake

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The 1999 Athens earthquake, registering a moment magnitude of 5.9, occurred on September 7 1999, at 2:56:50 pm local time and lasted for approximately 15 seconds. The tremor was epicentered approximately 17 km to the northwest of the city center, in a sparcely populated area between the working-class town of Acharnes and the Mount Parnitha National Park. This proximity to the Athens Metropolitan Area resulted to widespread structural damage, mainly to the nearby towns of Ano Liossia, Acharnes, Fyli and Thrakomakedones as well as to the northern Athenian suburbs of Kifissia, Metamorfosi, Kamatero and Nea Philadelphia. 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. Overall, 143 people lost their lives and more than 2,000 were treated for injuries in what eventually became Greece's deadliest natural disaster in almost half a century. 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.

Damage

The 1999 quake was the most devastating and costly natural disaster 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, some 77 km to the west of the Greek capital; registering a moment magnitude of 6.7, that earthquake had resulted to the death of 20 people and to considerable and widespread structural damage. Apart from the proximity of the epicenter to the Athens Metropolitan Area, this quake also featured a very shallow hypocenter combined with unusually high ground accelerations. Unexpectedly heavy damage also affected the town of Adames. The tangible loss was estimated at about 3 billion US dollars. No significant structural damage was reported to the municipality of Athens and the southern and eastern suburbs of the city. The Acropolis of Athens 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. Minor damage was also reported to water and waste networks close to the the epicenter.

Turkish aid

The tremor took place less than a month after a (much larger in scale) Turkish disaster. This peculiar 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 mutual 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 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 since the earthquake struck. The Greek consulates and the embassy in Turkey had their phone lines jammed with Turkish citizens offering blood donations.

1999 Athens earthquake

Damage

Turkish aid

References

Further reading