On this day in 1999, Athens was hit by devastating Earthquake

A devastating earthquake hit Athens on September 7, 1999, leaving 143 people dead, 2,000 injured and 70,000 buildings damaged.

The 1999 Athens earthquake occurred at 2:56pm near Mount Parnitha and lasted approximately 15 seconds.

It registered a moment magnitude of 6.0 on the Richter scale.

The proximity to the Athens metropolitan area resulted in widespread structural damage, mainly to the nearby suburbs of Ano Liossia, Acharnes, Fyli, Thrakomakedones, Kifissia, Metamorfosi, Kamatero and Nea Philadelphia.

More than 100 buildings (including three major factories) across those areas collapsed trapping scores of victims under their rubble while dozens more were severely damaged.

The Acropolis and the rest of the city's famous ancient monuments escaped the disaster either totally unharmed or suffering only minor damage.

This event took Greek seismologists by surprise as it came from a previously unknown fault, originating in an area that was for a long time considered of a particularly low seismicity. The highest recorded peak ground acceleration was 0.3g, at 15 km from the epicentre, with attenuation predicting 0.6g acceleration at the centre.