Earthquake rocks Skyros, rattles Attica
A strong earthquake registering 5.2 on the Richter scale shook the central Aegean last night and was felt as far south as parts of Attica. The quake struck at 10.22 p.m. and its epicenter was 110 kilometers north-northwest of Athens in the sea between the islands of Alonissos and Skyros, the Athens Geodyamic Institute said. The were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Skyros suffered extensive damage in a 5.7-Richter quake on July 26. Giorgos Stavrakakis, director of the Geodynamic Institute, said: Our first estimates are that this is a delayed aftershock of that strong earthquake… It is a usual phenomenon. The quake comes at a tense time, as the Gulf of Corinth was rocked on Friday by a tremor registering 4.7 on the Richter scale. Its epicenter, in the gulf of Porto Germenos, was the same as a deadly quake that struck in 1981. Papantoniou said that there is no US request for Greek forces to join in the Afghanistan campaign. He repeated that Greece is taking part with the US in the framework of a broader political alliance in this struggle, in accordance with the spirit and the letter of decisions by the European Council in Ghent.
