Copyright (0000) John Stathatos

The earthquake which struck just south of Kythera at 1.34 pm local time on Sunday (11.34 GMT) was unusually severe, and at 6.9 on the Richter scale could have been devastating. Fortunately the epicentre was in the very deep waters between Kythera and Crete, and as a result there have been no casualties and surprisingly little damage. The principal exception was the village of Mitata, which because of its location and the nature of the ground it is built on has always been vulnerable to earthquakes. Part of the main square slid into the ravine, the road to Viaradika is blocked, a number of older rubble-built houses have collapsed in part or in whole, and the 1900s church is a complete write-off, with huge rents appearing in the bell towers and the front façade.

The villagers gathered in the local café, where they were joined by police, fire brigade, local councillors and, by early evening, engineers and representatives of the Piraeus administration; the prefect of Piraeus, Yannis Michas, was expected to fly in on a Chinook helicopter later tonight.

There were also reports of damage to one or two houses in Kapsali and Goudianika, but little else so far. The monastery of Myrtidia appears to have weathered this earthquake as it has all the previous ones. So far, there are no reports of an injuries.