State of emergency declared for Santorini after series of earthquakes
A state of emergency has been declared on the Greek island of Santorini, after days of consecutive earthquakes.
It comes after a magnitude 5.2 tremor was recorded at 21:09 local time (19:09 GMT) on Wednesday between the Greek islands of Amorgos and Santorini, making it the strongest in recent days. It is estimated to have occurred at a depth of 5km, News.Az reports, citing BBC News.
The state of emergency will be in effect until 3 March to "address the emergency needs and manage the consequences", officials said.
More than 11,000 people have already left Santorini, with around 7,000 departing by ferry and 4,000 people by air.
A 4.7 magnitude quake was also recorded south-west of Amorgos at 07:50 local time on Thursday, following 57 tremors between midnight and 06:30.
So far no major damage has been reported on the island, but authorities are taking precautionary measures and bracing in case a larger quake hits.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to visit Santorini on Friday.
Vasilis Karastathis, director of the Geodynamic Institute, told ERTNews that "seismicity continues at the same pace as in previous days, intense."
"We have a fairly high number of earthquakes with magnitudes above 4," he said.
"Still, we are not in a position to say that we see any evidence that would lead to the sequence slowly being completed. We are still in the middle of the road. We have not seen any thinning, any sign that it is heading towards retreat."
Santorini welcomes millions of tourists annually, but it is currently low season, meaning local residents and workers make up the majority of evacuees.
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