Evacuation of Greece’s Santorini island continues as tremors persist
Hundreds more people were expected to leave Greece’s Santorini island on Wednesday as tremors shook the popular summer tourist destination for a sixth day.
ATHENS — Hundreds more people were expected to leave Greece’s Santorini island on Wednesday as tremors shook the popular summer tourist destination for a sixth day.
About 10,000 people have left on ferries and planes in recent days as hundreds of small quakes were registered in the surrounding sea, shaking buildings, kicking up dust on the island’s rocky cliffs, and raising fears of a major earthquake.
The island’s population swells in summer when millions of tourists visit the traditional white-painted villas that line its steep hillsides. The 2021 census puts Santorini’s permanent population at 15,000, so it is likely that a few thousand remain on the island, given that it is off-season.
Authorities have introduced safety measures, including halting construction, shutting schools on Santorini and the nearby islands of Ios, Amorgos and Anafi, and ordering residents and hotels to empty their pools to reduce the burden on the ground.
Government officials and seismologists who met on Wednesday to assess the situation pointed to a high risk of landslides, including near the island’s main port Athinios which serves some 1.5 million passengers a year.
Rating: 5