Hundreds of people packed a port in Santorini in the early morning hours of Tuesday to board a ferry and reach safety in Athens as a series of quakes kept shaking the famous Greek tourist island. - REUTERS
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00In the early hours of Tuesday morning, hundreds of people crowded the port in Santorini to
00:06board a ferry and reach safety in Athens.
00:09A tremor with a magnitude of 4.9 was recorded by the European Mediterranean Seismological
00:16Center on the Greek island, whose popular villages cling to steep cliffs over the sea.
00:22Here is Santorini's mayor, Nikos Zorzos.
00:29We must deal with it with patience and calm.
00:32This seismic activity may last many weeks.
00:37Since last Friday, hundreds of quakes have been registered every few minutes in the sea
00:41between the volcanic islands of Santorini and Amorgos.
00:50We have designated shelter areas on level surfaces for people without structures.
00:56There are eight places that can accommodate them.
00:59We have recorded all individuals with special needs who may require transfer at some point
01:03during an event.
01:16We have made a food distribution plan for those who will be outdoors.
01:22With seismologists estimating that the intense seismic activity could last for days or even
01:27weeks, people were advised to stay out of coastal areas.
01:32Schools in Santorini and the nearby islands of Eos, Amorgos and Anafi were also shut down
01:37until Friday.
01:39However, not everyone was eager to leave.
01:42Here is local resident, Eftichis Diamantopoulos.
01:48We will stay here.
01:49Why should we leave?
01:50If something happens, it happens.
01:52Oh well, we are locals.
01:54We were born here.
01:55We are guarding Thermopylae.
01:57There has been seismic activity.
01:59Whatever will happen, will happen.
02:00There is no reason to panic.
02:04Greece sits at the boundary of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates, whose constant
02:09interaction prompts frequent quakes.
02:12It is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in Europe.