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March 4, 2021

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6.3-magnitude earthquake lashes Greece, but no deaths

Source: AFP | 00:05 UTC+8 March 4, 2021 | Print Edition

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit central Greece yesterday, damaging several buildings and prompting crowds to rush into the streets, though no injuries or deaths were immediately reported.

Several aftershocks were reported after the main quake hit about midday near the city of Larissa, sparking panic in the area rarely hit by serious earthquakes.

“Everything happened very fast, people ran out of buildings, there are still aftershocks,” said Chrissoula Katsiouli, a staffer at the mayor’s office in the local town of Elassona, near Larissa.

“We are still dazed ... it was very frightening,” said local resident Vassilis Boussias.

The civil protection authority said a disabled man had been rescued from his home in the village of Mesochori, after the side of the house completely collapsed.

The clock tower of a church in Damasi also caved in and a school was damaged.

“Fortunately, the teachers managed to get the children out very quickly and there were no victims,” said the mayor of Tyrnavos Yiannis Kokkouras, referring to the damaged school in Damasi.

There were no injuries reported after the earthquake.

It struck at 12:16am, the civil protection authority said.

The agency also reported landslides had occurred in the region, and authorities were assessing further damage.

A helicopter was overflying the area in search for people in need.

Police also sealed off a bridge cracked by the quake, local media reported.

The US Geological Survey said the quake, which could be felt in central and northern Greece, was 6.3 magnitude.

But the Institute of Geodynamics in Athens said the quake had measured at 6.0.

The last major earthquake in the area was in the 18th century and was 6.2 magnitude, said Manolis Skordilis, a seismologist at Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University.

Greece is located on a number of fault lines. It is sporadically hit by earthquakes.

But the quakes often happen at sea and do not often kill people or cause extensive damage.

The last fatal earthquake was in October, when a 7.0-magnitude hit in the Aegean Sea between the Greek island of Samos and the western city of Izmir in neighboring country Turkey.

Most of damage was in Turkey where 114 people were killed.

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