Twenty-seven years ago, a powerful earthquake struck Greece and changed thousands of lives in just seconds.
The magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit Athens on Sept. 7, shaking the capital and surrounding areas for roughly 10 seconds. Despite lasting only moments, the disaster caused widespread destruction and became one of the deadliest earthquakes in modern Greek history.
At least 143 people were killed, while nearly 50,000 others were left homeless after buildings were damaged or destroyed.
Several people became trapped beneath collapsed structures as emergency crews rushed to search through the rubble. Rescue workers, firefighters and volunteers worked for days to locate survivors and recover victims from the wreckage.
The earthquake caused severe damage across the Athens metropolitan area, particularly in industrial and residential areas north of the city. Numerous buildings suffered structural damage, leaving thousands of residents unable to return home.
The disaster also exposed vulnerabilities in buildings and infrastructure in an area that had not experienced an earthquake of such destructive consequences in decades.
In the aftermath, rescue operations continued as authorities assessed the damage and searched for people who might still be trapped. The scale of the destruction forced communities to confront the devastating consequences of a major earthquake striking a densely populated urban region.
Twenty-seven years later, the Sept. 7 earthquake remains a powerful reminder of how quickly a natural disaster can transform ordinary lives — sometimes in less time than it takes to read a sentence.