Authorities in Greece on Thursday moved to declare a state of emergency on the island of Santorini as persistent tremors continued hiking fears of a possible bigger earthquake.
The region has been rattled by thousands of tremors and more than a hundred earthquakes since January 26.
Emergency measures in effect until March 3
The Greek Civil Protection Ministry issued the declaration that allows authorities to quickly mobilize heavy equipment and emergency personnel.
The ministry said the declaration would be in force from February 1 and would remain in effect until March 3.
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis on Thursday said Greece’s “entire state mechanism has been mobilized” to prepare for “any eventuality.”
More than 11,000 people have fled Santorini by ferry and by airplane, with travel operators adding extra journeys to both forms of transport.
German news agency DPA reported that around two-thirds of the island’s inhabitants had left and that it was unclear how many tourists remained in the popular holiday hotspot.
Thousands of tremors recorded
Greece’s authority on earthquakes, the Athens Geodynamic Institute, said that to date there have been 110 earthquakes measuring between 4.0 and 4.9 in magnitude.
The strongest earthquake so far was one measuring 5.2, recorded on Wednesday evening.
The institute said that over 6,000 tremors had been recorded in the Aegean Sea near the islands of Santorini, Amorgos, Anafi and Ios since January 26.
Experts say the current seismic activity is unprecedented and they cannot say with certainty when the situation will normalize.
“The most likely scenario is for the seismic activity to continue for certain days or weeks at the same intensity,” the AFP news agency quoted the head of Greece’s earthquake planning and protection authority, Efthymios Lekkas, as telling Proto Programma radio.
Edited by: Louis Oelofse
