Around noon Friday, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck near the Island of Samos, Greece. The tremor was recorded at 1.51 pm local time, at a shallow depth of 10 km below the surface.

The event was filed by the German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam (GFZ), the first seismological agency to report it. If the preliminary data about magnitude and depth are correct, the quake was extremely dangerous. It has the potential to cause catastrophic impacts on people and infrastructure, probably involving severe and wide-spread damage, especially in areas near the epicenter.

Towns or cities near the epicenter that are likely to be affected include Kontakaíika (pop. 500) at a distance of 10 km with very strong ground shaking, Kokkári (pop. 1,100) at a distance of 11 km with very strong ground shaking, Karabağlar (pop. 458,000) at a distance of 63 km with strong ground shaking, and İzmir (pop. 2,500,600) at a distance of 67 km with strong ground shaking.

The quake was clearly felt in Athens, over 250 km away, as light shaking. In Izmir, Turkey's third largest city 66 km to the NE of the quake, moderate to strong shaking occurred and could have caused damage. There are no reports yet of any casualties, but social media suggest that in Izmir, many people ran out of their houses in fear.

The quake was even felt 500 km away in Istanbul. There is extensive damage in the area of the earthquake. In Izmir, the largest populated center and among the worst hit, at least 20 buildings were reported to have collapsed after the quake.

In Samos, many buildings including a church were badly damaged as well. Many roads and walls cracked. So far, there are no precise numbers of injuries or fatalities. It is to be feared that this picture will change to the worse when search and rescue operations find time to report.

A tsunami was triggered as well, that hit many nearby coastal areas. Based on available footage on the social media, water first was retreating from the shores, pulling many boats out to sea from their moorings. Shortly after, the water returned, inundating by probably up to 1-2 meters low-lying coastal areas including many sea-side towns. Damage seems to be enormous.

(Source: Volcano Discovery)