A few moments ago our offices here in Heraklion, Greece shook for almost two minutes alerting our staff to what was surely a violent earthquake somewhere off Crete’s shores. As it turned out, the long tremors were from a 10km deep undersea seismic just north of Samos Island.
Reports are still coming in, but the magnitude 7.0 quake took place at 13:57 local time a few kilometers due North of Agios Konstantinos, on the north coast of the island in the eastern part of the Icarian Sea.
The USGS report says the quake’s center was 14 km NE of Néon Karlovásion, Greece. Local reports according to the geological service listed the quake in the violent category according to community reports.
A series of aftershocks are taking place in the wake of the main event, as reported by Volcano Discovery and other sources.
Update: The quake struck just off coast of west Turkey on the Greek island of Samos in the eastern Aegean Sea, about 11 miles off the coast of western Izmir. The Deputy Mayor of Eastern Samos said multiple buildings had collapsed in the area according to local news outlets.
Update 2: Turkish authorities are saying as many as 33 aftershocks have been registered in the wake of the major earthquake off Samos. Footage (Above) of tsunami waters inundating Samos and nearby Izmir, Turkey has also emerged. According to the latest reports, at least 14 persons are dead and more than 400 are injured because of the earthquake. Video of buildings collapsing is also filtering in from all around the web.
We will keep you updated as information comes in.