The Greek city of Kalamata is marking 40 years since a powerful earthquake struck on the evening of September 13, 1986, killing 20 people and injuring more than 300 others. The quake, measuring around 6.0 on the Richter scale, hit at 8:21 p.m. local time, bringing down buildings, filling streets with rubble and cutting power and communications across the city.
Port crowd spared the worst
A coincidence that evening prevented an even higher toll. Around 4,000 people had gathered at Kalamata's port for the inauguration of a new ferry route connecting the city to Crete, meaning thousands of residents were away from their homes when the ground shook. The inaugural ferry never departed as planned, and in the days that followed its cabins housed residents left homeless by the disaster.
Four apartment blocks collapsed in the city itself. Of Kalamata's 9,124 buildings, 20 percent were judged fit only for demolition, 16 percent suffered serious damage and another 36 percent sustained lighter damage. Just 28 percent came through unscathed.
The destruction was not confined to the city. The nearby settlement of Elaiochori was flattened, while the villages of Verga, Poliani, Ari, Artemisia and Nedousa also suffered serious damage. Rocks broke loose from Mount Taygetos and blocked the road between Kalamata and Sparta for roughly 24 hours.
Rescuers dig through the rubble
The rescue operation began immediately, with firefighters, soldiers, members of Greece's then newly formed EMAK special disaster response unit, rescue workers and ordinary citizens digging through the debris for people trapped inside. Foreign rescue teams, including units from France and Germany, also arrived in Kalamata to help.
Some stories from those hours have stayed attached to the memory of the earthquake ever since. One is the rescue of Dimitra Masouridi, then a teenager, who was pulled out alive from the ruins of a building on Kolokotroni Street.
Another became a symbol of hope amid the destruction. In the ruins of an apartment building in the Nisaki area, specially trained dogs located a ten-day-old infant alive. Images of the baby who survived beneath the rubble made front pages at the time and remain linked to the rescuers' efforts.
A second strong quake two days later
The ordeal did not end on the night of September 13. On September 15, a strong aftershock measuring 5.4 brought down buildings that were already left unstable and forced even more residents to stay away from their homes. It was one of roughly 700 aftershocks that kept fear alive in the area for weeks.
For a long period, Kalamata became a city living outside its own buildings, with tents, prefabricated shelters and temporary camps forming daily life for thousands of people.
Rebuilding while preserving the past
The 1986 disaster could have led to large parts of old Kalamata being handed over to disorderly demolition. Instead, the reconstruction gradually developed into a major urban planning effort.
The municipal administration of then-mayor Stavros Benos made use of a General Urban Plan that had already been drawn up, placing particular emphasis on preserving historic and neoclassical buildings. With the involvement of the Ministry of Culture under Melina Mercouri, restoration also began on Byzantine and more recent monuments.
This approach would later be recognised internationally for the way the city rebuilt itself while retaining its historic character. The earthquake had left deep scars, but it also became the starting point for a different Kalamata.
Forty years on
Forty years have now passed since that night. On September 13, Kalamata is again honouring those who died, those who were injured, those who were trapped and rescued, and all those who lived for months or years with the consequences of the disaster.
On the dome of the Church of the Ypapanti, the clock's hands remain stopped at 20:21, the moment the city has forever linked to when it was brought down and had to learn to rebuild itself.
