People in north Donegal were left shaken, but hopefully not too stirred, last night when an earthquake tremor hit the region. Tom Blake, a geophysicist at the Dublin School for Advanced Studies confirmed that a 2.2 magnitude tremor struck north Donegal at 1.04 am. The tremor was recorded at a seismic monitoring station in Inishowen.
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The station was set up and is operated in association with LYIT and North West Electronics. The tremor was also recorded at St. Columba's National School and St. Egney's Desertegney, where equipment has been in place for some time. According to the Donegal Weather Channel, hundreds of people felt the tremor right across north Donegal, areas affected included Letterkenny, Buncrana, Kilmacrennan, Raphoe, Ramelton, Carrigard and Downings.

"There most certainly will be more but we can't say when. Donegal sees seismic activity fairly frequently compared to the rest of the country except for Wexford. "There is a major fault that extends from Scotland through the north of Donegal specifically goes under the Urris hills, Lough Swilly and the Knockalla range." Tremors were felt here almost two years ago to the day. A 1.6 tremor was recorded on Jaunary 25, 2010 and a similar one again on January 27, 2010. Prior to that, the largest recorded tremor to hit Donegal, a 2.4, struck in February 2008.
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An earthquake measuring 5.3 magnitude on the Richter scale jolted the islands of Crete and Cyclades in the Aegean Sea in southern Greece on Thursday, without reported casualties. According to the Geodynamic Institute of Athens, the epicentre of the quake was traced 48 km southwest of Santorini at a depth of 30 km, Greek scientists said. Local authorities have reported no injuries or major material damage. Initially the EuroMediterannean Seismic Institute had estimated a moderate tremor measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale tracing the epicentre at 78 km northwest of the city of Herakleion in Crete.

The tremor was felt in a major part of the Aegean Sea, including Crete, Santorini, Cyclades, Rhodes and eastern Peloponnese. In comments in local media, Athens University Geology School Professor Efthymios Lekkas reassured that there was no reason for anxiety over the quake. Greece is regularly hit by moderate earthquakes throughout the year. The earthquake-prone country has been hit by devastating tremors many times in recent history, more than any other European country.