Earthquakes tend to come in spates
At boundaries of crustal plates
And there’s a line just south of Crete
Where Africa and Europe meet.
The continents that here collide –
And slowly past each other slide –
Have boundary rocks that sometimes grip
And hook fast like a Velcro strip
To block all movement till at last
The built-up forces are too vast.
An earthquake is the energy
The ruptured strata then set free.
Reports will mention without fail
A reading on the Richter scale –
A logarithmic scale what’s more,
With 5 ten times as big as 4.
The depth, however, of the break
Will have an impact on the quake
Up on the surface where we live
Since greater depth will tend to give
Absorption of the earthquake’s force
And limit damage, too, of course.
In years gone by Crete’s had a few
Enormous earthquakes, shallow too.
In the landscape you can see
The one in 365 A.D.
Along with all the rest of Greece,
Let’s hope for some more years of peace
