Magnitude6.4

Reviewed by USGSGreece105y ago

M6.4 earthquake 52 km SSE of Fry, Greece

Friday, August 11, 1922, 08:19:41 UTC · 34.988°N, 27.158°E

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck 52 km SSE of Fry, Greece on Friday, August 11, 1922, 08:19:41 UTC, at a depth of 20.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.

Magnitude
6.4
Strong · mw
Depth
20 km
Shallow
Felt reports
0
Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking
V
Moderate (ShakeMap)
PAGER alert
None
Not issued
Tsunami
No flag
USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search areaColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

54 kilotons of TNT

That is about 4 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 114 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

56 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Aegean Sea and African plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

20 km

Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.

Did You Feel It?

Where it was felt

No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.

I felt it — report to USGS ↗

USGS PAGER estimate

Who was exposed to shaking

USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.

After the main event

Aftershocks within 100 km

USGS lists 2 M2.5+ earthquakes within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M6.7 on August 13, 1922. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

M3M4M5M6M71h6h1d3d7d14d30dMainshock M6.4
Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.
  1. 5.924 km SE of Karpathos, Greece105y ago · 47 km NE of this epicenter
  2. 6.733 km SE of Karpathos, Greece105y ago · 50 km NE of this epicenter

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 22 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 13 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 3,903 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1810

    Crete: Iraklion (Candia)

    16 Feb 1810 · 204 km away · intensity X

    3,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  2. 1856

    Crete; Egypt

    12 Oct 1856 · 120 km away · intensity XI

    600 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  3. 1863M7.8

    Rhodes, Kos

    22 Apr 1863 · 184 km away · intensity XI

    300 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  4. 1869M7.5

    Gulf Of Keramos, Mentese

    1 Dec 1869 · 236 km away · intensity X

    3 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)

  5. 1741M7.3

    Dodecanese; Crete; Cyprus; Egypt

    31 Jan 1741 · 181 km away · intensity VIII

    Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  6. 1815

    Crete

    Dec 1815 · 128 km away · intensity IX

    Severe damage ($5–24M)

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages