Several examples of shallow earthquakes have shown that the degree of damage can change abruptly over short distances due to changes in local geology. In this paper we show that the geological structure such as the surface geology, the topography, the depth to basement rock and the distance from detachments and neotectonic faults are controlling factors of the ground motion also for the intermediate depth events. On January 8, 2006 an Mw=6.7 thrust faulting event occurred on the Hellenic subduction zone ~30 km east of the island of Kythira at 70 km depth. Damages were recorded mainly in the village of Mitata whereas several old stone masonry buildings experienced significant damage, including a few collapses. A number of rockfalls, landslides and fractures affecting an area of about 15 km2 were observed only in the village of Mitata in compliance with the damage distribution. Even though several villages of the island are equidistant from the epicentre, only the Mitata village was damaged. In particular, in the Potamos village situated only 35 km from the epicentre the reported MM intensity was V-VI, whereas in the Mitata village, situated ~40km away, having a similar quality of buildings, the intensity was VII-VIII. A series of geological cross-sections have been constructed, showing that the variation of the damage pattern was due to the highly unfavorable site specific conditions of the Mitata village. In particular, it is founded on Pliocene marine sediments that rest on a large NNW-SSE trending detachment fault, which is situated only a few hundred meters below the village. Moreover, the village of Mitata is also located in the immediate hangingwall of an active NW-SE normal fault that bounds a Late Miocene-Pliocene basin. Even though both the detachment and the neotectonic fault have not been activated, they have exerted a significant influence on the damage pattern. On the other hand, the Potamos village is founded on older and stiff metamorphic rocks and situated below the detachment. The Mitata village was devastated (Intensity XI) by a similar deep sourced, but significantly stronger event (M=7.9) in 1903, exhibiting once again significantly higher damages than the neighboring villages. This example shows that under certain circumstances not only the foundation factor, but also the subsurface geological structure can cause constructive interference or focusing which can influence the damage pattern in a significant way and should be considered on the seismic hazard assessment and planning.