Calls for calm as twin quakes strike off Cyprus

A low impact earthquake struck off the northwestern coast of Cyprus on Friday morning, with experts looking into the possibility that two separate tremors were aftershock from seismic activity two weeks ago.

According to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre, two quakes struck off Paphos Friday early morning, with the first one at 3:37am and the second one at 5:57am.

EMSC said the first event registered 2 points on the Richter scale some 48 kilometers northwest of Polis Chrysochous with a depth of 2km.

The second event, according to EMSC, was an earthquake at 4.9 points on the Richter scale, some 52 kilometers west to north west of Paphos with a depth of 10km.

State senior seismologist Christodoulos Hadjigeorgiou confirmed the activity was shallow and the earthquake was felt locally.

“We are investigating whether this was an aftershock or new earthquake activity,” Hadjigeorgiou said.

The official said low impact activity within the seismic zone could mean “energy was being released without big, disastrous earthquakes, and that’s a positive thing.”

“But this doesn’t rule out that active faults in Cyprus’ zone could bring about a big catastrophic earthquake, and I say this so that we can remain alert,” Hadjigeorgiou added.

On January 11 a 6.1-magnitude strong and relatively shallow submarine earthquake struck just off Cyprus’ west coast, also early morning, shaking buildings all the way in the capital Nicosia and being felt across the island and in nearby Turkey, Israel, and Lebanon.