Quake experts wary as tremors continue to rattle islands

Earthquake experts were not able to offer reassurances on Thursday over whether continued intense seismic activity around the Aegean island of Santorini was on the cusp of easing.

“We are not yet in a position to say that we see any indication suggesting the sequence is gradually coming to an end. We are still in the middle of the process,” the director of Greece’s Geodynamic Institute, Vasilis Karastathis, told state broadcaster ERT on Thursday morning.

“Seismic activity continues at the same intense pace as in previous days, with a relatively high number of earthquakes exceeding a magnitude of 4,” he said, adding that Wednesday’s 5.2 tremor – the strongest in the sequence so far – “does not significantly alter the overall picture.”

His colleague, Thanasis Ganas, who is the general director of research at the Geodynamic Institute, agreed, though he appeared slightly more upbeat in his comments to ERT.

The sequence, he said, “is by no means in decline… it is still evolving.” However, he added, “the escalation we had observed appears to be gradually decreasing. The intensity is starting to subside, though it has not yet fully stabilized. We are one step away from stabilization.”

A state of emergency was declared on Santorini on Thursday amid intense and ongoing seismic activity that is rocking the popular Aegean island and others in its vicinity, such as Amorgos, Anafi and Ios, and seen residents and visitors leaving in droves.

The state of emergency will be in effect until March 1, the announcement by civil protection authorities said, as tremors continued to rattle the area, raising the risk of serious landslides and rockfalls.

On Wednesday night alone, six earthquakes over a magnitude of 4 were recorded in the sea area around Santorini, followed by a stronger jolt of 5.2 south of Amorgos.

The intense activity is also taking a toll on the residents who have decided to stay put.

“These continuous tremors are starting to tire us. Especially last night. It was on and on. People are worried, sure, but the biggest problem is that we’re awake all the time,” Anafi Mayor Iakovos Poussos told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

He added that a ban because of high winds on ferries sailing to and from the island, which does not have an airport, only adds to people’s mounting sense of insecurity.

“We are closer to the epicenter, so we shake more and the rumble is noticeable,” a deputy mayor on the island of Amorgos, Stamatis Simos, told AMNA.

“So far, people are calm,” he said, claiming that structures are more solid on that island than they are in Santorini, where they stand on shifting volcanic rock and, in many cases, perched on the rims of steep cliffs overlooking the caldera.

Source: pagenews.gr