By Martin Hellicar
A STRONG earthquake shook Cyprus early yesterday morning, causing widespread panic and damage to some buildings — but no serious injuries.
Though structural damage was not serious, a number of affected homes in the Limassol area — which suffered the brunt of the quake — were later evacuated as a precautionary measure till repairs could be carried out.
The 7.27am tremor measured 5.8 on the Richter scale and had its epicentre near Gerasa, North of Limassol. The main quake was preceded by a tremor measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale, recorded at 4.20am, and followed by a number of aftershocks measuring between 2.5 to 4.4 on the Richter scale.
The tremors were felt right across the island but more intensely in Limassol.
“It was about 7.30am and you could see the flat moving back and forth, we were having our morning tea, we did not know what to do, whether to get up or stay put,” the resident of a seven-floor Limassol apartment block told the Cyprus Mail. “When a quake comes, you lose it, your legs and hands shake,” he added.
Most of the people treated in Limassol hospital after the quake were suffering from shock or minor injuries caused in the panicked rush to evacuate buildings. A total of 43 injuries were reported, almost all in the Limassol area.
The worst injury was to a young man who suffered fractures after he jumped out of a first floor window in his haste to flee a shaking Limassol building, a hospital spokesman said.
The fire brigade was called out on ten occasions to rescue people trapped in lifts in the town.
Cracks appeared in a total of 82 homes round the island. Most of these were in Limassol town and its suburbs and the Limassol area villages of Gerasa and Arkounda. But Larnaca district, and Lefkara village in particular (where six homes were damaged), was also hit.
The Public Works department was called out to clear roads following landslides in the Kivides, Gerasa, Arkounda, Amiandos and Mouttagiaka areas in the Limassol district.
Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou rushed down to Limassol to inspect the damaged areas and talk to affected residents. At 10am he chaired an emergency meeting at the Limassol District office to co-ordinate efforts to deal with damages.
“The Minister stressed that it had been decided to take immediate action so that homes that could be dangerous be evacuated and these have already been evacuated,” an official announcement released after the meeting stated.
It was not clear yesterday how many homes had been evacuated.
Christodoulou expressed satisfaction with the way emergency services had sprung into action after the earthquake. He said work would begin immediately on recording damages caused by the quake.
August holidays were cancelled for District office workers needed to deal with the quake fallout.
Following earthquakes in the recent past, the government set up compensation schemes for affected home-owners.
The Minister dismissed as nonsense rumours that yesterday’s quake was the forerunner for a much stronger tremor.
The Seismology centre agreed: “It is believed that with these tremors the whole seismic activity is being defused,” an official statement read.
Cyprus lies in an active seismic zone and is no stranger to earthquakes.
State seismologist Kyriacos Solomis said the Mediterranean had experienced high seismic activity this decade, which had affected many countries including Cyprus.
He said statistics showed tremors follow a pattern of high activity for eight to 10 years followed by a lull of 35 to 50 years. The most recent seismic cycle started in 1992, the expert said. “Bearing in mind the statistics the cycle could end by 2002,” Solomis said.
In February 1995, two people were killed in an earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale, when the roof of their home came crashing down on them in Miliou, Paphos.
Other jolts in recent times — the highest recorded being a quake in October 1996 which measured 6.3 on the Richter scale — have caused little damage and no loss of life.
Reaction to yesterday’s quake was varied.
Panic was the commonest response. “For about two or three minutes everything in the house was moving. A great noise could be heard and people rushed out into the streets shouting in panic,” said Christodoulos Papachristou, mukhtar of Psematismenos in the Larnaca district.
Confusion was a common response for those still asleep when the tremor occurred.
“My bed was just rocking, like someone was pushing it around the room. I was half asleep and I shouted ‘stop it’ because I thought it was my kids messing about and when I looked round there was nobody there,” one Larnaca resident said.
Others were more blasé. “We were shaken, not stirred,” said a spokesman for the British bases — where no damage was reported.
