Greece Just under a third of Santorini's population still alive

SDA

5.2.2025 - 10:05

A tourist approaches an orthodox church with a blue dome in Oia on the earthquake-stricken island of Santorini. The earth is currently shaking on the island almost every ten minutes. The quake in question reached a temporary peak of magnitude 5. Photo: Petros Giannakouris/AP/dpa
A tourist approaches an orthodox church with a blue dome in Oia on the earthquake-stricken island of Santorini. The earth is currently shaking on the island almost every ten minutes. The quake in question reached a temporary peak of magnitude 5. Photo: Petros Giannakouris/AP/dpa
Keystone

Due to the ongoing series of earthquakes north-east of the vacation island of Santorini, two thirds of the 16,000 inhabitants have now left the island. The news channel ERTnews reported that police are increasingly patrolling the empty streets of the villages for fear of looting.

Keystone-SDA

Meanwhile, the Ministry for the Protection of Citizens has reinforced the emergency services on the affected islands of Santorini, Ios, Amorgos and Anafi. Firefighters, as well as rescue teams with search dogs, are on site, as are employees of the electricity company, who can operate large generators in the event of a power outage after a strong quake, said government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis.

Quakes continued to occur every minute to quarter of an hour during the night. Seismologists and geologists point to different forecasts for a possible end to the phenomenon. The following variants are being discussed:

* A main quake of magnitude 6 or more occurs, causing the built-up tension to dissipate and calm to slowly but surely return.

* The earthquake series lasts for weeks or even months and at some point simply subsides slowly.

* The series of earthquakes culminates in a massive shock of magnitude 7 or more - the result would be tsunamis, severe damage and possibly fatalities.

* The constant earthquakes awaken the two large volcanoes in the region and volcanic eruptions occur. The effects then depend on how strong such an eruption would be.

1. https://dpaq.de/mB0C5ms 2. https://dpaq.de/pQVI1Uf

The different scenarios have one thing in common: no one can say with certainty when they will occur.