Rhodes quake shakes Greece and Turkey

An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale struck the Dodecanese Islands on Thursday morning, with mixed “felt it” reports coming in from Greece and Turkey.

According to online sources, the earthquake struck Thursday early morning at 7:44am local time some 30 kilometres southeast of Rhodes, the largest of Greece’s Dodecanese islands.

The epicenter of the quake was registered as 36.18°N / 28.59°E while the depth was calculated at 22 km.

Various “felt it” reports appeared online almost immediately from both Greece and Turkey, in various locations. Reactions ranged from reports of “light shaking” to “strong shaking” while some said they woke up due to the vibrations.

A person on the southern part of Rhodes described the rattling as a big truck driving nearby.

“First we thought someone of us was shaking the bed for fun but then we realized it was an earthquake. The lamp shades and the glasses where vibrating. It felt and sounded like a big truck driving a meter away. What we found particularly remarkable was that it was dead silent outside for a few minutes,” the person wrote online.

Another report from Fethiye on Turkey’s southwestern coast came from a hotel guest.

“I was asleep in my hotel room. I woke to the sound of glasses rattling and felt the building structure vibrating. My wife stated we were feeling an earthquake.”