January quake aftershock rattles Paphos

Paphos was shaken by an earthquake recording a magnitude of 4.0 on Tuesday night, an aftershock of the larger January tremor, but no structural damage or injuries were reported.

The Cyprus Geological Survey Department said the quake measuring 4.0 on the Richter Scale occurred at 11:42 pm, 45 km west of Polis Chrysochous and a focal depth of 27 kilometres and was mainly felt in the Paphos district.

The earthquake was slightly felt in the districts of Limassol and Nicosia.

The Geological Survey Department Tweeted on Wednesday that the quake is believed to be an aftershock of a 6.5 magnitude earthquake in the same area on 11 January.

The 6.5 magnitude earthquake in January was one of the strongest quakes ever recorded.

It was the biggest earthquake to shake the island since a 6.5 on the Richter scale quake struck Paphos in October 1996, when two people died – the strongest in the previous 100 years.

Cyprus is a secondary earthquake-prone zone, but strong tremors of this magnitude are uncommon.

The biggest quake in recent years was a magnitude of 6.8 in 1996, killing two people in Paphos.

A sizeable 5.1 magnitude earthquake shook Cyprus on 3 February, 53 km northwest of Polis, at a sea depth of 24 kilometres.