Atalanti quake not related to large active fault

Despite assurances that a 4.8-Richter earthquake that jolted Atalanti in eastern Fthiotida on Thursday afternoon was not related to the Atalanti Fault – a large active fault segment in the Gulf of Evia – residents of the town remained uneasy, with many leaving their homes, and some of them even heading to the beach fearing the possibility of powerful aftershocks.

“Residents of the area should not be alarmed, first because their houses have been built in anticipation of the seismic risk… And second, this was not the Atalanti Fault, so that is reassuring,” Vassilis Karastathis, the research director at the Institute of Geodynamics of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), told state broadcaster ERT.

According to the Institute, the 3.33 p.m. tremor’s epicenter was 13 kilometers southwest of the town of Atalanti and its focal depth was 6 kilometers. It was also felt in Athens.