December 18, 1481 Earthquake: Rhodes, Greece

Dec 18, 1481. Three successive shocks struck Rhodes on 18 Dec 1481, the third of which caused considerable damage to the city, which already suffered from a Turkish siege only a year earlier. This first shock occurred on the sixth hour of the night on 18 of Dec 1481 and caused general panic. People fled their homes to open spaces and to the country outside the city walls. The second shock occurred at about ten on the same night. It was stronger and brought about chaos in Rhodes. The third shock happened a little later and nearly ruined the city of Rhodes. In the city some dwellings collapsed and many needed propping up, while in several places the ground opened up... Considering that travellers ... who passed through Rhodes shortly after the earthquake say nothing about a wholesale destruction, the accounts of damage given by Caoursin, Bosio, Coronelli, Parisoti and Suriano seem to be grossly exaggerated. Their narrative is typical of how the effects of an earthquake became known and exaggerated, not just because they were serious, but primarily to draw theological and political morals from a natural disaster, particularly when the earthquake took place in a large urban centre. It is interesting, perhaps, that there is no mention in the sources of the number of people killed or, indeed, whether there was any loss of life. (reference #9116)

The shaking of the ground continued till the 3rd of Oct when it stopped for a few weeks. But the physical primer mover of these subterraneous phenomena which produce earthquakes, soon after, built up again, and repeated earthquakes reoccurred on Dec 18. The ground was shaken three times, at 6 and 10 in the morning, each time with greater violence. These shocks threw on the ground many churches, oratories, the Hall of Justice, and many houses, burying under their ruins many Rhodians ... (ref #26)

May 3, 1481, night (also Mar 15, May 5,12, Oct 3, Dec 18), (36N, 28E or 38.2N, 28.5E, intensity IX or intensity X, magnitude 7.1, tsunami intensity 3). Hellenic Arc, Island of Rhodes... Numerous aftershocks were felt till the second half of 1482. (ref #2130).