Week 3- Earthquakes and Seismic Waves

Earthquakes occur everyday in different areas of the world, it is incredible how they occur but also consider the importance of how some countries can be ready and safe. A country that is prone to Earthquakes should take precautions and be informed on how they can improve or create a protocol to be set in place. Based on the new seismicity map, Earthquakes occur mainly in Crete, Greece which is an Island in Greece. There have been six earthquakes between the months of August 7 - August 28 of 2024. There have been two in Greece from the dates August 26 - September 2 of 2024. Out of those Earthquakes the highest Magnitude is 4.9 (Mw 5.0) and the Depth was 10km. The Mw stands for moment magnitude and it is to measure large earthquakes in order to get a proper estimate. That is according to how much energy is being released.

In Europe Greece is placed as number one in seismicity and it is placed sixth place globally! Greece is made up of many islands, the biggest earthquake that has occurred in the past one hundred years has been on Kefalonia. It took place on August 12, 1953 causing a lot of property damage, unfortunately 400+ deaths leaving 2,412 injured.

Due to Greece having Earthquakes quite often they have taken it very seriously to help the people living there. Greece is organized alongside national, regional, and local authorities and will support one another with local and public institutions and services( European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, 2021). The organization called General Secretariat for Civil Protection aka GSCP is responsible for civil protection alongside other organizations. There are early warning systems as well as training and exercises set in place at national, regional, and local level by competent authorities. The country has taken part in the Union Civil Protection Mechanism training program.

Resources: https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/what/civil-protection/national-disaster-management-system/greece_en

https://www.greeceme.com/earthquakes-greece-measures-precaution

https://ds.iris.edu/seismon/eventlist/index.phtml?region=Europe

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