Nails 9.000 personas They have already abandoned the Greek island of Santorini for fear of earthquakes magnitude up to 4.8 That for days they shake the archipelago of the Cycles, while the government has sent emergency equipment as a preventive measure.
During the early morning and on the morning of this Tuesday they have registered More than 50 earthquakes in the maritime zone between the islands of Santorini and Amorgoswhere on January 24 a high seismic activity that has produced More than 600 tremorswhich have put the authorities on alert.
At 06.09 GMT was registered 18 kilometers to the southwest of love Magnitude 4.8 tremor, while less than An hour later another of 4.7 He shook this island again and that of Santorini, according to the Geodynamic Institute of Athens.
Chaos and panic to leave the island
The government decided Close the schools Of these four islands until next Friday, while at least nine other islands of the archipelago, where the tremors also feel, classes have been suspended today.
Yesterday, on the island of Santoriniof about 25,000 inhabitants and one of Greece’s most tourist destinations, occurred Great traffic jams in the streets that lead to the Port and airportwhile thousands of locals, workers and tourists tried to leave the island. The airplanes and ferris from Santorini arrive at Athens completely full, while a Great crowd From people remained this morning in the port to be able to embark on one of the ships to the Greek capital.
The Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos mitsotakisyesterday asked the islanders “to keep calm” and pointed out that the authorities are “trying to manage a very intense geological phenomenon.” To the island, special equipment of firefighters has been attended by caution, although so far There have been no damageexcept some landslides in the island’s boiler.
The root of earthquakes
Experts say that ASeismic citivity of the last days is not linked to Santorini volcanobut to Underwater failures of the area, although so far you cannot know if the situation will go more or will calm down. These five failures, of more than 20 kilometers each, can produce earthquakes up to 7.3 magnitude, like the one that was registered near Amorgos in 1956, and that produced a 30 -meter tsunami that caused the death of 53 people.
Since yesterday, Monday, Epicentros From the earthquakes they moved away from Santorini moving a few kilometers east towards the island of Amorgosof about 2,000 inhabitants and with a rocky floor that decreases the risk.
This phenomenon that shakes the cycled is called seismic swarmwhich differs from the earthquakes that happen with a series of replicas, since there is no single earthquake in the sequence of earthquakes that can be defined as the main movement. The natural disaster management professor, Efthimis lekkasstressed on Tuesday that the Frequency of tremors has increased to some extent during the last days and that this phenomenon It could last “several more days, maybe even weeks”.
