Authorities in Greece closed schools on Monday and scheduled emergency services at the Santorini Egean Island, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country, after the area thickened by hundreds of smaller and moderate earthquakes.
The Ministry of Civil Protection announced on Sunday that more than 200 trembling has been hit by the Egey region between Santorini and Amorgos in the last 48 hours. They continued on Monday, shaking residents sometimes every few minutes. Cautioned measures have also been taken on several other islands affected by a trembling, and schools are closed to emergency teams.
Gerasimos Papadopoulos, on Facebook, wrote on Facebook that earthquakes were increasing in size, calling them a “intense pre -season sequence.”
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking from Brussels, where he attends a meeting of the European Union leaders, urged the islanders to “be calm and follow the commands on civil protection”.
Most shivering was smaller, but some exceeded Magnituda 4.5, and Mr. Papadopoulos related to reading 4.7 and 4.9 in his Facebook post.
There were no injuries report, and the authorities only recorded minimal damage, including smaller landslides. Greece sits on several lines of mistakes and is often crumpled with earthquakes, but such a shivering sequence is growing in intensity is less frequent.
The Greek organization for planning and protection of earthquakes on Sunday advised that the islanders avoided large gatherings indoors, keeping away from onions near cliffs and empty pools to reduce potential damage to buildings. In an emergency workers, they set tents in outdoor sports spaces, and local authorities have determined the points of meeting for potential evacuation.
The measures were a precaution, Sunday said, Greek civil protection minister, Vascilis Kikilias, but he urged citizens to “follow security recommendations strictly to reduce the risk.”
The circumference of this risk was unclear, with some experts playing the potential for a large earthquake and emphasized that seismic activity was not associated with a dormant volcano in Santorini.
The chances for a much higher and more harmful earthquake were “very small, it is an extreme scenario,” said Eftchios Lekkas, director of land planning organization on Monday, on Monday. Referring to the potential for eruption on Santorini, he said, “The volcano can wake up, but there is no way we have an explosion.” Mr. Lekkas said on Saturday that the volcano had produced very large eruptions only every 20,000 years.
The last one happened more than 3,500 years ago, forming Santorini’s unique Kalder, multicolored beaches and rocks, which are attracted to more than three million visitors annually. Since then, the area has only seen a smaller eruption, in 1950, which did not cause victims.
The last large earthquake of the island was in 1956, when a series of Temblora killed 53 people from 7 to 7.7 and destroyed hundreds of homes.
Since then, there has not been a greater trembling, although during the 14 months in 2011 and 2012 a number of smaller earthquakes occurred, with a shaking that is reduced in intensity. Similar measures of those set up this time were not taken then, according to local officials.
In an interview with Vulcano TV, a local station, Sunday, Mayor Santorini, Nikos Zorzos, said current precautions, with ambulances on the island roads, “could be exaggerated.” But National TV said on Monday that the guidelines of expert committees should be followed.
Reports also suggested that thousands of people want to leave the island. Nevertheless, Mr. Zorzos said, “There is no mass exodus, some people decide to leave.”
Greek television showed dozens of cars waiting at Santorini’s main port on Monday, while Eegean Airlines said he had added three additional flights from the island on Monday and Tuesday.
Mr. Zorzos was supposed to open an annual tourist campaign on Monday, an event canceled on Sunday night.
The influence on tourism on the island was unclear, although the British external office included official warnings in its internet a warning to travel For Greece.
