50 years in 11 seconds: Quake displaced Turkish port by 26cm

An earthquake which killed two people on the Greek island of Kos and triggered a mini tsunami, also shifted land around the Turkish city of Bodrum by about 26cm, seismologists have found.

On July 20, a quake measuring 6.6 on the Richter Scale struck in the Mediterranean Sea. Shockwaves from the 10 km deep earthquake triggered a mini tsunami which hit the Aegean Sea island of Kos. Two people were killed in the disaster which also damaged Kos’ main harbor.

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Experts from Turkey’s Dokuz Eylul University and the Earthquake Research and Implementation Center studied the surface displacement of the tremor.

Reported in the Geodinamica Acta journal, the earthquake activated a 65 km fault section under the Mediterranean Sea. Around the point of the quake, the earth slipped between 5-26 centimeters.

Bodrum-Kos earthquake map. © USGS

According to professor Hasan Sozbilir, of Dokuz Eylul University, ground movement that would normally take decades to occur was witnessed in a matter of seconds.

“It was revealed that the seafloor was torn over a 65 kilometer-long and 25-kilometer wide zone in an area off the southern coast of Bodrum Kara Ada and Kos Island,” Sözbilir told Habertuk news.

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“A sliding that would normally take 50 years happened in 11 seconds with the 6.6 magnitude earthquake. We determined that this region slid 26 centimeters,” he added.

More than 480 people were injured in Kos and Turkey during the quake, according to the US Geological Survey. Waves generated from the resultant tsunami reached a height of 0.7 meters.

Images from the time of the earthquake showed coastal flooding in Bodrum and fallen masonry from buildings in Kos.