Earthquake on Kefalonia and Zakynthos in 1953
The 1953 earthquake hit the Ionian islands of Kefalonia , Zakynthos and Ithaca on August 12, 1953 . It had a magnitude M W of 7.2.
Chronology of the quake
Kefalonia lies between the Eurasian and African plates. Four major earthquakes struck the island in modern times.
Already on August 8, 1953 there was a weaker earthquake, two more shocks on August 9 and 11 before the main one on August 12, 1953. This occurred at 11:24 am local time and was only demanding despite the enormous damage on the islands 476 fatalities and around 2,500 injured. The coastline had changed after the earthquake, broken gas pipes led to fires. The north of the island of Kefalonia around the town of Fiskardo had suffered little damage due to the rocky soil; castles and citadels in general remained intact, as were many churches. A 6.3 magnitude aftershock occurred on August 12 at 2:05 p.m. local time.
Assistance
After sending the SOS call for help, two ships of the Israeli Navy came as first aid , followed by the USS Salem (CA-139) as the first American ship and the HMS Forth as the first British ship, which had come from Malta in 12 hours, and the HMS Daring .
The Greek state built a small house for each damaged family, and requests for changes could be taken into account through the residents' own resources. Haile Selassie and the Church of Sweden funded the reconstruction of Lixouri Hospital. The city of Paris took on the task of rebuilding the picturesque town of Asos . The shipowner Andreas Vergotis financed the reconstruction of his village Kourkoumelata. The newly built middle school on Ithaca was financed by Switzerland and was called "Gymnasión Helvetón".
The USA, Great Britain, France, Israel, Sweden and Norway provided assistance from abroad.
consequences
The islands were once very rich in architectural treasures and lost almost all of their historical buildings. Pictures after the clean-up work show only scattered individual houses, even in larger cities. The goods that could still have been recovered were often destroyed by fires, particularly in museums, libraries and archives. The loss of the central archive of Zakynthos posed great hurdles for local historiography.
As a result of the earthquake, the islands became depopulated. 100,000 residents left Kefalonia immediately afterwards, 25,000 mostly elderly residents remained behind. Citizens from poorer parts of Greece moved to the islands and the demographics changed significantly.
After the quake, strict building laws were enacted to prevent future damage from similar quakes. At the same time, the construction of multi-storey buildings was initially prohibited, which is now possible again under certain conditions. Initially, simpler residential and administrative buildings were built, historical buildings, if they were still standing, were mostly only secured. Relatively late, since the late 1970s, the faithful reconstruction or the reconstruction of numerous historical buildings began by public authorities, but also by private individuals. These buildings show the appearance of the site much more completely than a few decades ago.
The complete destruction of the city of Lixouri was processed literarily in Kay Cicelli's novel "Death of a City".
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.kefaloniainfo.com/kefaloniaenglish/kefaloniaisland/kefaloniaislandhistory/earthquakes/index.html
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated December 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1938
- ↑ http://www.greeka.com/ionian/kefalonia/kefalonia-history/kefalonia-earthquake.htm
- ^ Walter Puchner: Studies on Folklore of Southeast Europe and the Mediterranean Area. Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2009, ISBN 978-3-205-78369-5 , p. 242.
- ↑ http://www.greeka.com/ionian/kefalonia/kefalonia-history/kefalonia-earthquake.htm
