Distinguished seismological and electromagnetic features of the impending global failure: Did the 7/9/1999 M5.9 Athens earthquake come with a warning?

Clear VLF electromagnetic (EM) anomalies were detected prior to the Athens earthquake (EQ). We attempt to establish the hypothesis that these emissions were launched from the pre-focal area during micro-fracturing process. The spectral analysis in terms of fractal dynamics reveals that distinquished alterations in the associated scaling parameters emerge as the EQ is approached. These alterations suggests that the evolution of the Earth's crust towards the "critical point" takes place not only in the seismological sense but also in the pre-fracture EM sense. VAN-signals and space-time TIR-signals were also detected prior to the Athens EQ. These anomalies, as well as the fault modeling of the Athens EQ obtained by interferometric combinations of ERS2 SAR images bring further support for the confidence in the reliability of our conclusions.