Collecting Macroseismic Information for Earthquakes from the Western Gulf of Corinth (Central Greece) in the Period 1936-1949

This paper attempts to trace macroseismic information from earthquakes in the western part of the Gulf of Corinth for the period 1936-1949. This period is characterized by a general lack of systematic collection of macroseismic data from the Institute of Geodynamics of the National Observatory of Athens, as its seismological bulletin ceased publication in 1936 and resumed in January 1950. However, few earthquakes from the area of interest are listed in the seismological catalogues. Our sources of information on these events are newspapers, as well as documentary information from the area. In total, 56 earthquakes were identified in the study area, three of which were damaging to the main towns and caused alarm among the residents. The most important event occurred on 16/4/1947, damaging a number of public and private buildings and houses and producing seismo- geological effects, such as rockfalls. The overall collected information allows for listing the EMS98 macroseismic intensities of all events and for producing the seismic histories of Patra and Aigio, as well as the intensity distribution map of the 1947 earthquake.