LAST UPDATE: 16:25
An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale was recorded on Friday at 13:51 in the sea region 16 km north-northwest of Samos, the Geodynamic Institute of the National Observatory of Athens said.
There has been damage to buildings on the island of Samos as a result of the strong quake, while communications with the island have been seriously impeded.
As reported by samos24.gr, part of the church of Panagia Theotokou has collapsed.
Damage to buildings has been also reported in southern areas of the island of Chios, while no damage has so far been reported on Lesvos.
The strong quake recorded in the sea northwest of the island of Samos earlier on Friday was felt in all the islands of the Dodecanese and especially the more northern islands, where many of the residents of Patmos, Kos, Kalymnos, Agathonissi fled from their homes.
According to initial information from the region of South Aegean, no damages have been reported on any island of the Dodecanese and the Cyclades island groups.
The Minister of Development, Adonis Georgiadis, also spoke about extensive damage to buildings during his first briefing that took place in the Parliament.
Efthymios Lekkas: It was a surface earthquake and it was felt all over Greece
It was a surface earthquake and was felt throughout Greece, said the president of Organization for Antiseismic Planning and Protection (OASP) , Professor Efthymios Lekkas, adding that there was a warning for a small tsunami. He said there should be no panic, noting that “the earthquake as a fact always worries us.”
Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias said that all hospitals, health centres and emergency aid centres on Samos and Ikaria have been put on full alert in the wake of the strong earthquake that shook the region. In a tweet on Friday, after the strong quake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale near Samos, he said that special search and rescue teams are on their way to Samos.
According to the latest information posted by Athens National Observatory’s Geodynamics Institute, the quake had a magnitude of 6.7 Richter and a occurred at a depth of 2 km.
Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias departed for Samos to be briefed on the impact of the strong earthquake in the region and coordinate the actions of the state mechanism, which has been placed on full alert to address the damages and take measures against the possibility of major aftershocks. The minister will go to Samos in a helicopter.
The Civil Protection service has warned the citizens of the islands near Samos to avoid going near buildings at risk of collapse and to stay outdoors in open, safe spaces, to avoid making non-essential phone calls and to follow the authorities instructions.
The airport of Samos reopened earlier than originally announced on Friday afternoon and the general secretary of the Infrastructure and Transport Ministry, Giorgos Karagiannis, and a team of civil engineers are on their way to the island to assess the damage to the island’s infrastructure.
Four people on the island of Samos had been brought in with slight injuries by 15:30 on Friday, none of them life-threatening, following the powerful earthquake that jolted the island , Samos Hospital authorities reported.
Injured people are also being transported from Karlovasi in the eastern part of the island but there is no information concerning their condition. “These are mostly orthopaedic injuries,” staff said.
