Magnitude 3.6 earthquake recorded in Cyprus early on Tuesday

A mild earthquake of magnitude 3.6 at 10 km depth was recorded in Cyprus early on Tuesday as the seismic “Cyprian Arc” affects the Mediterranean island as well.

The quake is likely an aftershock of the shocking 7.8 quake 34 km west of Turkey on Monday, according to seismologists who warn that Cyprus is within the area’s seismic arc.

Fears of a possible impact on the “Cyprus Arc” by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey were also expressed by Costas Papazachos, Professor of Seismology at the Aristotle University of Salonica.

He noted that the fact remains that there is increased seismic activity in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Something similar was observed before the great earthquake of 1996 in Cyprus.

Specifically, in 1994, an earthquake first occurred in Egypt, followed by an earthquake in Crete and then in Cyprus.

Finally, a major earthquake followed in the Anatolia fault in Turkey and then in Greece, which seems to have temporarily closed the cycle that had lasted a few years.

The devastating earthquake in Turkey is also affecting the area around Cyprus, head of Greece’s organisation for anti-seismic planning Efthymios Lekkas said on Tuesday.

The Cyprian arc includes the area east of Ayia Napa and is particularly sensitive to seismic activity in Turkey and the wider Anatolian region, he added.

But speaking to CyBC radio, he said the area near Cyprus is largely under the sea so the effects of a potential earthquake would be less devastating.

He also pointed out that the conformation of the Cyprian arc is not large enough to produce large earthquakes.

 

In-Cyprus