July 6, 1965 Earthquake: North Corinth Gulf, Greece

Name: July 6, 1965 Earthquake: North Corinth Gulf, Greece
Start: 1965-07-06
Location: North Corinth Gulf, Greece

July 6, 1965 · M6.1 · 2 deaths · 70 houses destroyed

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck North Corinth Gulf, Greece on July 6, 1965 at 03:18:45 UTC, 18 km below the surface. It killed 2 people, counting the tsunami it caused.

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: July 6, 1965
Time: 03:18:45 UTC
Place: North Corinth Gulf, Greece
Magnitude: 6.1 (Mw)
Magnitude scales: Mw 6.1 · Ms 6.3
Focal depth: 18 km (11 mi)
Intensity: VIII, severe shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
Tsunami: Yes: the tsunami it caused
Epicenter: 38.384° N, 22.545° E
Country: Greece
Region: Southern Europe
USGS record: The USGS’s page for this earthquake

Mw: moment magnitude, based on the slip on the fault and the area that slipped. Ms: surface-wave magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.

The toll

Deaths: 1; 2 with its tsunami and other effects
Injuries: 6
Damage: Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
Houses destroyed: 70
Houses damaged: 1,000

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 happened

The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.

One person killed and 6 injured at Eratini. Heavy property damage was reported throughout the area.

From the USGS event page for iscgem855169. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

July 6, 1965, 03:18:42.7 UTC, 38.4 N, 22.4 E, magnitude 6.25, depth about 20 km. One person was killed and 6 were injured at Eratini, northern Pelponnesus. Heavy property damage was reported throughout the area. (from Reference #45)

Earthquake in the gulf of Corinthos. Subsidence observed in the bottom of the sea at Eratini and crevices observed in the gulf of Galaxidi. Light fluctuation of the tide in the Itea bay. One person, sleeping on the beach, drowned because of the sliding of the earth band into the sea. Tsunami intensity II at Galaxidi attributed by Papadopoulos. (reference #4139)

July 6, 1965, 03:18:45.08 UTC, 38.384 N, 22.545 E, magnitude 6.08 Mw (reference #10476, v. 9.1)

One person was killed, 1 drowned and 6 wounded; about 70 houses were destroyed and 1,000 damaged, most of them already damaged by the previous shock. Landslides blocked some secondary roads and slumping of a part of the coast set off a small sea-wave that caused additional damage on the coasts of the Gulf of Corinth. (reference #13256)

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

#45 U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey and U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (1928-1986). United States Earthquakes, Annual publication, published 1928-1986. vol.s for 1928-1965 issued by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey; volumes for 1966-1969 issued by the National Earthquake Information Center; volume for 1970 issued by the National Geophysical Data Center; volumes for 1971-1972 issued by the National Geophysical And Solar-Terrestrial Data Center; volumes for 1973-1980 published jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey; volumes for 1981-1986 published by the U.S. Geological Survey. [on shelf]
#10476 International Seismological Centre (2013). Final Scientific Report of the ISC-GEM Instrumental Earthquake Catalogue, ISC-GEM Global Instrumental earthquake Catalogue (1900-2021). Versions 1-12 downloaded beginning 18 March 2013. DOI: 10.31905/D808B825
#13256 Ambraseys, N.N. (1967). The earthquakes of 1965- 66 in the Pelopennesus, Greece; a field report. Bull. Seism. Soc. Amer., vol.57, No. 5, pp.1025 46.
#4139 Tsunami Risk and Strategies for the European region (TRANSFER) project (2009). Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Region Tsunami Catalogue (NEAMTWS), retrieved February 2009 from http://www.ioc-tsunami.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=282&Itemid=1102

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1965 The 1900s Every quake the USGS located in 1965 Recent earthquakes near here This 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 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 6415. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem855169, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.