Quake rattles Cyprus, people rush out to streets

AN EARTHQUAKE shook the island yesterday, rattling buildings and even sending office workers out on the streets of Nicosia, a witness said.

According to the Geological Survey Department’s Kyriacos Solomis, the earthquake occurred at 5.09pm, located 10km south of Amathounta at sea.

But citing the French-based European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, Reuters reported the epicentre only being only two km deep.

“It made blinds swing and seemed to last 20 seconds,” a witness told Reuters.

Seismic waves were felt most intensely in high-rise buildings in Limassol, but also in surrounding villages, in Larnaca, Kiti, and even Nicosia.

The area is known for having similar-strength earthquakes with the last one recorded on August 25, 2009, measuring 4.5 on the Richter Scale.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.