The island of Santorini was declared in a state of emergency after the strongest earthquake was recorded on the almost constant days of tremors, which have practically emptied visitors and residents the famous Greek tourist paradise.
An earthquake of magnitude 5.2 shook Santorini on Wednesday night, the first to exceed 5.0 since the tremors began last week. The Greek Civil Protection declared on Thursday the island under emergency until March 3 to respond to seismic activity.
The Greek authorities have organized additional flights to help people flee to the mainland, but the evacuation tasks were complicated on Wednesday, because the ferry could not leave the ports because of the strong winds. The normal service resumed on Thursday.
Located near the limit of the huge African and Euroasy tectonic plates, Santorini often suffers seismic activity, but rarely with so much intensity and for so long. In addition to Santorini, the nearby islands of Amorgos and IOS have also suffered tremors. No major damage have been reported, but the Greek authorities take precautions to a possible large -scale earthquake.
“The entire state mechanism has been activated and I want to urge our citizens to cooperate with the authorities,” said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after a meeting of senior officials on Wednesday.
Santorini owes its form to geological phenomena that occurred ago millennia. The island is famous for its boiler, a bowl -shaped crater caused by a volcanic eruption, which was formed by one of the greatest known explosions around 1600 a. C.
Hundreds of tremors, who have shaken Santorini every few minutes for days, have had a magnitude of around 3.0 and are considered “mild” earthquakes. Wednesday’s earthquake, more than 5.0, is considered “moderate.” It followed at least five earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.0 or higher, which are considered “mild”.
The most recent earthquake in Santorini, of magnitude 7.5, occurred in 1956, dying at least 53 people and wounding more than 100.
