1956 Amorgos earthquake
earthquake and tsunami centered near the Greek island of Amorgos
The 1956 Amorgos earthquake occurred at 03:11 UTC on July 9. It had a magnitude of 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale and a maximum perceived intensity of IX on the Mercalli intensity scale. The epicentre was to the south of the island of Amorgos, the easternmost island of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea. There was significant damage on Amorgos and the neighbouring island of Santorini. It was the largest earthquake in Greece in the 20th century. It was followed 13 minutes later by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake near Santorini. It triggered a major tsunami with a maximum run-up of 30 m. The combined effects of the earthquake shaking and the tsunami caused the deaths of 53 people with a further 100 injured.
Tectonic setting
The Cyclades island group lies within a zone of extensional tectonics in the Aegean Sea plate, between the South Aegean Volcanic Arc to the south and the continuation of the North Anatolian Fault to the north. The extension is a result of the bulging out of the Hellenic arc due to flat-slab subduction of the African plate.
The public source identifies “1956 Amorgos earthquake” as earthquake and tsunami centered near the Greek island of Amorgos. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Amorgos, earthquake and tsunami.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5933013. Authority coordinates are 36.666, 25.957. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1956.
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This entry incorporates text from “1956 Amorgos earthquake” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.