As Earthquakes Subside on Santorini, Residents, Tourists Returning

ATHENS – While earthquakes are expected to keep shaking Santorini, possibly for weeks, they have declined enough so that most of the island’s population that had temporarily fled is returning to the island, along with tourists.

Seismic activity between Santorini and Amorgos continues to gradually subside, both in daily frequency and maximum magnitude, said a report from the Interdisciplinary Risk Management Committee of the University of Athens (EKPA).

The activity remains concentrated in the same epicentral area, primarily southwest of Anydros, with no significant rise in microseismic events since Feb. 15, after they began on Jan. 26, more than 23,500 since.

At one point, about 11,000 of the island’s population of 15,000 left, rattled by the constant shaking and fears of a major earthquake but some brave tourists kept coming and had the most famous part to themselves.

The earthquakes also had brought worry about tourists coming in the peak spring and summer months that bring in most of the revenue for an island that had once been rated the world’s most popular for visitors.

While seismologists discounted any chance of the Nea Kamini volcano on an islet off the main island and the nearby underwater volcano Kolumbo erupting, nor any new volcanoes being formed, saying the earthquakes are tectonic in nature.

Greek scientists monitoring the unprecedented phenomenon, as well as potential landslides on the famous cliffs – atop which sit homes, businesses and hotels, some with swimming pools – said the quakes are slowing.

The undersea shocks — sometimes recorded only minutes apart — led thousands of residents and workers to flee the famed clifftop towns of Santorini as well as the nearby islands of Ios, Amorgos and Anafi.

Schools remain closed on those islands for a fourth week and many other restrictions are still in effect. But scientists said they were encouraged by the decline of the earthquake swarm.

“Seismic activity continues to show a gradual decline, both in terms of the daily number of recorded earthquakes and maximum magnitudes,” EKPA said. “The activity remains concentrated in the same focal area … with no new micro-seismic surges observed since Feb. 15,” it said.

The multiple earthquakes, attributed to natural tectonic processes as well as magma movements below the seabed, have measured up to magnitude 5.3 but have caused only minor damage and no reported injuries.

Professor Efthymios Lekkas, who heads the Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization, told state broadcaster ERT that, “It will be a prolonged sequence lasting several weeks, possibly even a few months. This type of seismic activity does not subside easily,” he added.

Santorini Mayor Nikos Zorzos said several thousand people had returned to the island in the last week and called on government authorities to provide additional assistance in dealing with risks — including controlling rockfalls and the installation and repair of hillslope fencing.

The government had said it would create a special evacuation port to get people off the island quickly in case of a major event although that could also cause a tsunami, and cruise ships that begin going there in February had stopped for now.

(Material from the Associated Press was used in this report)

Source: The National Herald