September 30, 1636 Earthquake: Cephalonia, Greece

1636, Sept 30. Greece, Island of Zante. Intensity II which corresponds to buildings may be unroofed or shattered and some may fall, the ground may be badly cracked in places and small landslips occur. (reference #1055)

1636, Sept 30, from 9 p.m. to midnight. Island of Zante. Several shocks. Did great damage, the effects of the earthquake extending about 12 miles. (reference #521)

1636, Sept 30. On the island of Zante: many houses and overturned several hundred dead. At Cephalonie 520 dead. (reference #1093)

1636, Sept 30, Midnight. 38.1 N, 20.3 E, magnitude 7.2, intensity IX (Cephalonia, Makropoulo). The earthquake caused many destructions in Cephalonia. It devastated the villages Eilcosmia, Eleio, Makropoulo, Valta, Koronoe, Solomata, Heraklio, Pyrgio. In the large mountain (Ainos) many trees were uprooted but the chapel of Saint Eleftherios remained untouched. Omala suffered no much damage but the area around the fortress, that is, Livatho, Argostoli and Lixuri, suffered much. Rockslides were caused and the Acropole sank in the sea where Kakkava appeared. 520 people were killed. In Zante, many houses collapsed and hundreds of people were buried under the ruins. A fire was caused in the powder-store house of Kastro from where live objects were hurled and completed the destructions of people and animals. The earth opened in many places. At the monastery of Strofades, the tower and some parts of the walls fell down. A captain of a ship observed an intense sea wave out of Cephalonia. The aftershocks continued up to the spring of 1637 (Perrey, 1848; Mallet, 1854; Schmidt, 1867a; Partsch 1890; Romas, 1975). (reference #4408)

1636, Sept 20. 38 N, 29.5 E, intensity X. Libatho-Argostoli (Kephallenia). Earth and rockslides; casualties. A. Siegerg (1932a), E Tsitselis (1960). (reference #3719)

1636, Sept 30. Kefalonia. An earthquake caused extensive damage in the southern part of Kefalonia and Zante. It occurred at about 6pm on Friday 30 September (O.S.) and lasted for about 30 seconds. The earthquake destroyed or ruined all the houses and taller buildings in Kefalonia, not only in Kastro (Argostoli) and its suburbs, but also in the rest of the island, killing about 520 people. The districts of Argostoli, Livatho, Ikosima, Elios, Valta, Koroni, Irakli, and Pirgi, in the southern part of the island, were totally destroyed. The ground motion was very strong, making it impossible to walk. Maximum damage occurred in the southern part of the island... The effects on Zakynthos were as bad, if not worse. Houses and monasteries are reported to have collapsed all over the island, resulting in the deaths of several hundred people... The shock was felt at sea, but contrary to what modern writers report, the earthquake was not associated with a seismic sea wave. (reference #9116)