A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 struck southwestern Greece on Sunday, killing at least two people, injuring more than 100 and flattening dozens of homes, authorities said.
It was Greece’s first fatal earthquake since 1999, when a 5.9 magnitude quake near Athens killed 143 people and left thousands homeless.
Sunday’s quake struck at 3:25pm near the port city of Patras, about 200km west of Athens in the northwestern Peloponnese, and had a shallow epicenter, the Athens Geodynamic Institute said. It was felt as far away as southern Italy.
PHOTO: AFP
By nightfall, six of the 120 injured remained hospitalized, authorities said.
With dozens of houses destroyed or severely damaged, the government said it would give 3,000 euros (US$4,680) as aid to anyone who had lost their primary home in the quake.
“My thoughts in these hours are with our fellow citizens who are suffering,” Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said in a statement from Vienna, Austria, where he was on a three-day visit. “Along with sadness for all that has happened and for the loss of lives, I want to stress and underline that the state will be at [their] side.”
Karamanlis was to cut his visit to Austria short by two days and return to Greece yesterday.
Frequent aftershocks rattled already frightened residents, and seismologists urged caution, particularly around buildings damaged in the initial quake.
“We are watching the seismic activity with great attention. We are not yet certain that the danger is completely over,” Athens Geodynamic Institute director Gerasimos Papadopoulos said.
Although it was unlikely that there would be a stronger quake, “there is still concern. ... For this reason, and because strong aftershocks are expected, great care must be taken,” Papadopoulos said.
Authorities said they would set up tents for those left homeless and distribute food.
Transport planes, rescue helicopters and a specialized air force rescue crew were on standby, the National Defense General Staff said.
The quake damaged the air traffic control tower of the Andravida military airport, but a secondary tower was being used and the airport remained open, the general staff said.
Two families — seven people in total — were rescued after being trapped in collapsed houses in the village of Fostaina, about 30km south of Patras, and in the village of Vartholomio, authorities said.
Hours after the quake, terrified residents stayed away from their homes, gathering in village squares and outdoor coffee shops. Authorities cordoned off unsafe buildings and ordered all schools in the area to remain shut yesterday.
Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said the damage was relatively light.
“An initial assessment shows we don’t have widespread damage,” Pavlopoulos said. “The consequences of an earthquake of this intensity and at this depth were relatively limited.”
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS