CYPRUS felt a total of 45 earthquakes from July to September, with seismologists saying the island has experienced less activity compared to previous months.
According to the Seismology Department, out of the 45 quakes, only five were actually felt in Cyprus.
From April to June this year, a total of 48 earthquakes were recorded in the area.
The biggest quake during those months occurred on August 8, when an earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale occurred in the Larnaca area of Aradhippou at 7.55pm.
No damage was recorded but the quake was felt throughout most of the island, with the epicentre being 11 kilometres below Aradhippou.
The second biggest quake was felt in the Klirou area of the island on July 26. Again, no damage was reported, with the epicentre in Klirou but at a depth of 54 kilometres.
Other smaller earthquakes occurred just off the coast of Paphos on August 11, while two earthquakes, measuring 3.8, were recorded again off the coast of Paphos and in the Paphos village of Lania on September 12 and September 25 respectively.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday, Seismologist Kyriakos Solomi said although it was impossible to predict when an earthquake would take place, scientists had observed what appeared to be a 30 to 40 year cycle of low activity after big earthquakes occur.
“Without making any kind of prediction, because a big earthquake could take place even tomorrow, it appears that from our data we see a period of tranquillity for around 30 to 40 years after a big earthquake takes place,” he said.
“But that doesn’t mean people should expect a big earthquake by 2030… If meteorologists cannot properly predict the weather, then how can we predict things that occur way underground?”
According to Solomi, Cyprus experiences three big earthquakes between 1995 and 1999.
In February 1995, an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter Scale shook the island, causing some damage and killing two people in Paphos.
The following year, an even bigger quake measuring 6.5 was recorded some 75 kilometres off the coast of Limassol and again shook the island and causing some minor damage. No casualties were recorded.
In August 1999, an earthquake measuring 5.6 was felt in Limassol again causing minor damage.
Most of the quakes occurred in and around the Cyprian arc.
This runs roughly parallel to the south coast of Cyprus, about 100-200 km offshore, with subduction under the island.
Subduction is the process in which one plate is pushed downward beneath another plate into the underlying mantle when plates move towards each other
The Cyprian arc is an active fault and shock waves from it are the cause of most of the tremors that are felt in the Paphos, Limassol and Larnaca districts.
Since 1900, Cyprus has been affected by approximately 800 earthquakes of magnitudes ranging from four to seven on the Richter scale, 21 of which had magnitude of up to five.
