A magnitude 4.2 earthquake near Heraklion, Crete, Greece, was reported only 2 hours ago by the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), considered the main national agency that monitors seismic activity in Greece. The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of 15 km beneath the epicenter in the morning on Sunday, May 15th, 2022, at 8:34 am local time. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the Kandilli Oservatory and Earthquake Research Institute in Istanbul (KOERI-RETMC) which listed the quake at magnitude 4.0. Other agencies reporting the same quake include the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) at magnitude 4.1, the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake at magnitude 4.2, and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) at magnitude 4.2.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Emporeio (pop. 1,900) located 19 km from the epicenter, Messaria (pop. 1,200) 23 km away, Thera (pop. 2,400) 25 km away, and Oia (pop. 3,400) 29 km away.
Other towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Ios (pop. 2,000) located 60 km from the epicenter, Néa Alikarnassos (pop. 12,900) 98 km away, and Heraklion (pop. 137,200) 99 km away.
