February is a late hour on Greece's Santorini island, attracting over 3 million visitors a year.
However, a week after a nearly constant earthquake, the island is experiencing a rare, quiet state. At least 13,000 of the island's 15,500 residents, who are not bothered by frequent trembling, have left in the past week. The streets are mostly abandoned, except for occasional tourists, but most of them are from Asia.
Sometimes every few minutes, every thousand minutes, since January 25th, it has rocked the nearby islands, Santorini, about 150 miles southeast of Athens. A magnitude 5 earthquake was felt in Athens on a Sunday night. Most of the tremors are relatively small, but in the first nine days of February there was a tremor of 4 size and 160 tremors, but last year, all 90 strengths, Vassilis Karastathis, is the National Astronomical Observatory of Athens I said on Monday.
The outlook for Santorini, one of Greece's most popular islands, remains unknown. Experts said it is impossible to make reliable predictions about what's coming next with shaking.
“There are signs of stabilization, but we need to make sure the frequency of tremors decreases further,” Karastathis said, adding that the earthquake could last several weeks. “Many earthquake energy has been released, but even so, it cannot eliminate major earthquakes.”
The shaking prompted authorities to close schools and ban large indoor gatherings. Emergency workers are deployed on the island and the lander is on standby due to the possibility of evacuation. Several areas of Santorini have been blocked due to the fear of landslides, with sandbags installed next to the beach home. Red Cross psychologists were counselling worried residents, and the priests prayed to stop the earthquake.
After the state of emergency was declared last Thursday to ensure the aid was released promptly, Greek Prime Minister Kiriakos Mitotakis said all possible actions have been taken. “We're ready for the worst while we want the best,” he said during his visit to the island Friday, urging residents to stay calm.
Many people chose not to put it at risk.
Giorgos Calamatas, 37, who owns a business organizing fireworks for weddings in Santorini, returned to his family home in Athens last Monday with his wife and three young children. “The constant shaking was nerve-wracking and we were worried about our kids,” Karamatas, 37, added that he hoped to return the next weekend. “We need to live with it.”
Others said they had no choice but to stay. Rena Bredaki, a 52-year-old makeup artist, is married on an island whose client is primarily a bride in the United States, the UK and Australia, and last week he will live in a relative's home in Athens. I sent it to. She stayed behind to take care of both her aunt and uncle, both her seniors.
For several days, she and her husband spent the night huddled in blankets as they were sleeping in the car. “We were in one car, and my aunt and uncle were in another,” Mrs. Bredaki said.
Scientists say the current earthquake-causing fault lines, unlike the one that caused a tragic earthquake of up to 7.7 in 1956, killing 53 people and causing extensive damage.
The key question is whether the current tremors constitute a “seasonal herd,” a clear major earthquake-free sequence, or a precursor to a massive temptation of about six sizes? Please.
The Scientific Committee said last week that seismic activity was not related to the two volcanoes in the area and ruled out eruptions. On Monday, scientists hoped to retrieve the underwater earthquake monitor, install new ones, and gather more clues.
For Mrs. Bredaki, endless questions are the biggest headache. “Do you have a shaking of sixth level? Will our house bear it? Will Colombo erupt?” she asked, referring to the nearby submerged volcano. “It's like a science fiction movie.”
Many of the people who stayed in Santorini work in hotels, although most are closed. Annual renovations are within reach after construction and repair work were banned during the earthquake. “One employee left scared and the other employees are not sure about returning to April,” said Antonis Iliopoulos, who owns three hotels on the island. He said he has not yet received a cancellation of his spring reservation, and that he saw Quakes “a more annoying than dangerous.”
The country's Ministry of the Environment halted the construction of the Santorini caldera for a year in November last year, citing concerns about overdevelopment and asked hotel operators to conduct a risk assessment. The earthquake revives questions about the stability of many of the structural elements there.
Popular with tourists for its spectacular scenery, the cliffside hotels in Fira and Oia could be most at risk from landslides, said Dimitrios Papanicolau, a professor of geology at the University of Athens. Pumice stones are “flat”.
“In these areas, stronger earthquakes could cause some buildings to collapse, such as balconies and swimming pools,” he said.
Authorities discussed the same risks at Quake Swarm in 2011, Papanikolaou added. “They talked about making the building safer, but nothing happened,” he said. “Now they're talking about it again, but when the earthquake stops, they'll probably forget it until it happens again in 10, 20, 30 years.”
