Tons of of earthquakes have rattled the favored Greek island of Santorini over the past week forcing greater than 10,000 people to evacuate.
The quakes, measuring as much as a magnitude of 5, began on Friday and will go on for weeks, say experts.
Although there have been no injuries or major damage to this point, there’s a high landslide risk on parts of the island.
There are also fears the quakes could get stronger.
Consequently, Greece has declared a state of emergency, evacuated residents and tourists, shut schools and advised people to avoid indoor gatherings and ports which are surrounded by sheer rock faces.
Among the measures have been prolonged to the islands of Amorgos, Ios and Anafi.
On a transient visit to the island on Friday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged the general public to stay calm and follow the recommendation of the civil protection service.
He added: ‘I need to guarantee the residents of Santorini and the neighbouring islands, that are being tested nowadays, that the state mechanism is on their side.
‘We hope this phenomenon ends quickly and the island fully returns to its normal pace.’
Greece sits on multiple fault lines and is certainly one of Europe’s most earthquake prone countries.
Quakes across the country occur every two to 3 days on average, though they’re pretty mild in comparison with among the more powerful ones felt in other parts of the world and customarily cause few injuries and deaths and little damage.
What sets these earthquakes other than previous tremors is their extremely high frequency.
How common are earthquakes on Santorini?
Earthquakes should not unusual on Santorini and in 1956 was actually struck by probably the most serious quakes to affect Greece over the past 100 years.
A 7.7-magnitude temblor, dubbed the Amorgos earthquake, triggered a roughly 20-meter (65-foot) tsunami, causing significant damage in Amorgos and Santorini and killing greater than 50 people.
Santorini can also be the location of certainly one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in human history – although this was a really very long time ago, in 1,600 B.C.
Often called the Minoan eruption, it destroyed much of the formerly round island and is believed to have contributed to the decline of the traditional Minoan civilization.
Santorini is situated along the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, a string of volcanoes from the Peloponnese in southern Greece through the Cyclades Islands.
The island also has a caldera, a big cauldron like hole that forms shortly after a volcano empties its magma chamber.
Greece’s Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Ministry said this week sensors had picked up ‘mild seismic-volcanic activity’ contained in the caldera but scientists have since said the quakes should not linked to the activity.
In addition they say there’s little probability of a volcano eruption any time soon.
Do other Greek Islands get earthquakes?
Yes, earthquakes have struck several islands. As mentioned before they have a tendency to be relatively mild, but there have been the just a few relatively serious quakes through the years.
The region of the Ionian Sea, including the islands of Lefkada, Kefalonia, Ithaca, and Zakynthos are likely to experience the strongest tremors.
In 2015 an earthquake that struck Lefkada left two people dead, dozens injured and caused property damage costing hundreds of thousands of Euros.
Kefalonia, Zakynthos and Ithaca were hit by an enormous 6.2 quake in 1953 which destroyed 27,569 homes out of the 33,000 residences on the three islands.
The realm from southern Crete to Rhodes can also be more susceptible to higher magnitude quakes because of a geological formation called the Anatolian Rift.
How long will the state of emergency last?
It’s very difficult to predict how long the earthquakes will last and, because of this, when the state of emergency will come to an end.
But authorities have said activity could go on for weeks.
Experts are also unsure whether the series of quakes are foreshocks leading as much as a big earthquake or simply a swarm of smaller quakes.
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