February 9, 1948 Earthquake: Dodecanese Islands, Greece
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Dodecanese Islands, Greece on February 9, 1948 at 12:58:18 UTC, 60 km below the surface. It caused a tsunami.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- February 9, 1948
- Time
- 12:58:18 UTC
- Place
- Dodecanese Islands, Greece
- Magnitude
- 7.3 (Mw)
- Focal depth
- 60 km (37 mi)
- Intensity
- 10 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 35.640° N, 27.158° E
- Country
- Greece
The toll
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 573
- Houses damaged
- 1,539
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
February 9, 1948, 12:58:13 UTC, 35.5 N, 27 E, magnitude 7.25, intensity X. (reference #1004)
1948, February 09, 12:58:23. 35.8 N, 27.19 E, 60 depth. (reference #12496)
1948, February 09, 12:58:18.43 UTC. 35.64 N, 27.158 E, magnitude 7.3 Mw. (reference #10476)
The 9 February 1948 shallow, large (Mw = 7.3) earthquake caused a local damaging tsunami in Karpathos Isl. (Galanopoulos 1960, Papadopoulos et al. 2007). No coastal uplift was reported in association with this earthquake which had its source at considerable distance from Rhodes anyway. (reference #13796)
1948, February 09, 12:58:13 UTC. 35.5 N, 27.2 E, magnitude 7.1. The earthquake caused serious destructions in Karpathos and more in the central part of the island. 13 settlements were damaged where 573 houses were entirely destroyed, 644 were rather serious damaged and 895 lightly. After the earthquake, a huge sea wave (tsunami) followed which entered the land in at distance of 1 km and completed the destruction in the island. This sea wave caused damage in the southwest coast of Rhodos too. The aftershocks caused damage in Karpathos and Kassos (Galanopoulos, 1955; Ambraseys, 1988b). The largest aftershock occurred on 29 March (02:33, M=5.6). (reference #4408)
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- October 1491, Kos, Greece
- August 8, 1303, Crete, Greece
- February 16, 1810, Iraklion (Candia), Crete, Greece
- October 12, 1856, Crete, Egypt, Greece
- April 22, 1863, Rhodes, Kos, Greece
- May 29, 1508, Iraklion (Candia),megalokastron, Crete, Greece
- April 23, 1933, Dodecanese Islands, Greece
- July 9, 1956, Dodecanese, Greece
- April 25, 1957, Fethiye (Lycia, Asia Minor), Turkey
- December 1, 1869, Gulf of Keramos, Mentese, Turkey
- July 20, 2017, Kos, Bodrum, Datca, Greece, Turkey
- June 2, 2025, Fethiye, Turkey
- September 27, 2021, Crete, Greece
- October 18, 1483, Dodecanese Islands, Greece
- May 3, 1481, Rhodes, Greece
More
Significant earthquakes of 1948The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1948Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 3871.