The 1953 Earthquake

Kefalonia – The 1953 Earthquake

Kefalonia has been subjected to many earthquakes over the years as it is situated to the east of a major tectonic fault, where the European plate meets the Aegean plate at a slip boundary. This is quite similar to the more well known San Andreas fault in Southern California.

One of the first earthquakes to actually be recorded was in 1636.  This earthquake claimed 540 lives and caused considerable damage. However it was the infamous earthquake of 1953 which claimed the most lives and caused the most damage and devastation to the island.

A series of four earthquakes hit the island in August 1953 causing widespread destruction, with virtually every house on the island being destroyed. The north of the island was the only area to escape major devastation.

The first earthquake on 9^th August had Ithaka as its epicentre.  The second one was on Tuesday 11th August at about 6 o’clock in the morning as people were asleep in their homes. The epicentre of this earthquake was near Sami resulting in complete devastation with many casualties. The third and most destructive of the earthquakes took place on 12th August at 11.27 and lasted for 50 seconds. It had a magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter scale and was directly below the southern tip of Kefalonia.

During September and October there were more earthquakes, not as strong as the previous ones; two were in Lixouri; there was however, nothing left to be destroyed.

The entire island was raised as a result of the 1953 earthquake by 60cm and remains that much higher to this day. This can be seen in water marks on rocks around the coast.

Damage was estimated in tens of millions of dollars. However, the real damage to the economy occurred when residents left the island. It is estimated that 100,000 of the population of 125,000 left the island within a month of the earthquake looking for a new life elsewhere.

Boats came to the island to collect people and they left with just what they could carry.

Temporary houses had to be constructed in a very short space of time and this was aided by France and Germany.

They were prefabricated buildings with asbestos or tin roofs and the size allocated to families depended upon the number of children they had.

The remaining 25,000 residents now faced the task of rebuilding the island.

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