The major earthquake of magnitude 7.9 which struck central Turkey and northwest Syria early on Monday killing about 200 people also caused “small tsunamis” off the Famagusta coast in Cyprus.
This is what Geological Survey director, Christodoulos Hadjigeorgiou, told CyBC morning radio.
No damages were reported in Cyprus, but, had there been an underwater landslide the consequences could have been catastrophic, he added.
The earthquake was felt at 3:17am local time, in the Gaziantep area of Turkey close to the Syrian border.
Six aftershocks of over 5 magnitude on the Richter scale followed, again also felt in Cyprus.
The earthquake was strongly felt at a distance of almost 600 km from the epicenter in Turkey, Iraq, Georgia, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Cyprus.
On Sunday, a 3.6 earthquake struck 25km northeast of coastal Paralimni just after 8am at a depth of 35km.
Turkey’s disaster agency said 76 people had been killed, and 440 hurt, as authorities scrambled rescue teams and supply aircraft to the affected area, while declaring a “level 4 alarm” that calls for international assistance.
Syrian state media said more than 100 people were killed and dozens injured there, most in the provinces of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia, where numerous buildings had been brought down.
