The most notable earthquake in August was the magnitude 5.8 event that occurred 145km south of Athens, Greece, on August 29 at 5.45am local time (green circle in map). The earthquake hypocentre was almost 100km below the earth’s surface, in the Aegean Sea.

Although of moderate magnitude, the earthquake was clearly felt throughout most of the Maltese islands, about 700km away from the epicentre. Most people reported feeling light shaking effects, with some rattling of furniture, windows and doors, and some pets being alarmed. This corresponds to Intensity Level IV on the European Macroseismic Scale EMS-98.

The earthquake in California was the biggest the region has experienced in 25 years

Seismic wave energy from the Hellenic arc region appears to propagate very efficiently across the Ionian basin in certain cases, making Greek earthquakes in general more perceptible than events from other regions.

Two small quakes, of magnitude 2.5, also occurred in the Sicily Channel during August, and registered by the University’s Seismic Monitoring and Research Unit (SMRU). One was close to Sicily and the other at about 42km southeast of Malta.

Globally, the magnitude 6.1 earthquake on August 24 in California was the biggest the region has experienced since the Loma Prieta earthquake nearly 25 years ago. The earthquake, whose epicentre was 80km northeast of San Francisco, occurred on the plate boundary between the Pacific and North American plates, which are sliding past each other at around 55mm per year. Buildings were damaged and about 66,000 people experienced severe shaking.

If readers experienced any earthquake-related shaking they are invited to fill in the online questionnaire at http://seismic.research.um.edu.mt .