GREECE

State of emergency declared in Santorini as earthquakes persist



The Greek government has declared an emergency amid ongoing undersea quakes near the island of Santorini. (Reuters: Alkis Konstantinidis)

In short:

A state of emergency has been declared on the Greek island of Santorini following days of earthquakes.

A 5.2 magnitude tremor was detected between the Greek islands of Santorini and Amorgos on Wednesday night, local time.

Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis says emergency services have been mobilised to support the island.


Greece's government has declared a state of emergency in the tourist hotspot of Santorini, as undersea earthquakes continue to shake the resort island.

At least 11,000 people have fled the island in the past week, amid concerns of landslips and stronger quakes.

The declaration follows a magnitude 5.2 tremor — the most powerful recorded since activity started on on January 31 — that struck late on Wednesday.

That was followed by a further seven successive tremors registering above magnitude 4 which shook the region early on Thursday morning local time.

The country's leading authority on earthquake analysis, the Athens Geodynamic Institute, said it had recorded over 6,000 tremors off the Greek coast since January 26.

"The intensity is falling but has not yet stabilised," the institute's research director Athanassios Ganas told state TV channel ERT.


Thousands of people have evacuated from Santorini via ferry, as shaking continues. (Reuters: Alkis Konstantinidis)

The ministry of civil protection's emergency declaration will provide authorities faster access to state resources.

"The whole state mechanism has been activated … so that we are ready for any possibility with the hope that things will get better and the phenomenon will decrease in intensity," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday.
Seismic activity unprecedented

Santorini is best known for its seaside towns with buildings painted white and blue. Scores of tourists visit the island during the summer season.

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.

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.


Experts say the region has not experienced seismic activity on this scale since records began in 1964.

"The most likely scenario is for the seismic activity to continue for certain days or weeks at the same intensity," the head of Greece's earthquake planning and protection authority, Efthymios Lekkas, told Proto Programma radio.

Santorini lies atop a volcano which last erupted in 1950, but an experts' committee on Monday said the current tremors were "not linked to volcanic activity".

No injuries or damage have been reported.

Rescue teams have been sent to the area as a precaution, and additional seismic sensors have been deployed.

AP/AFP/Reuters

Is rising seismic activity in Greece a warning sign for the region?

The tremors continue to rise in and around Santorini, Amorgos, Anafi and Ios, sparking fears of a larger disaster.

The New Arab Staff
06 February, 2025


Residents of Santorini island and tourists bord the ferry in order to flee the island after the recent seismic activity and the fears of a volcanic awakening or a larger scale earthquake. Santorini, Greece on February 4, 2025. [Getty]


Hundreds of earthquakes have rattled the Greek islands of Santorini, Amorgos, Anafi, and Ios - known collectively as the Cyclades - raising concerns among residents, officials, and scientists about a potential escalation in seismic activity that could disrupt neighbouring regions in the Eastern Mediterranean.

According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), earthquakes were occurring within minutes of each other as of 07:00 on Tuesday (17:00 GMT), with the largest recorded at magnitude 5.1 on Monday.

Over 11,000 residents have left Santorini, a major Greek tourist destination, with approximately 7,000 departing by ferry and 4,000 by air as of Wednesday.

In Turkey, over 100 earthquakes were recorded in the past 48 hours, according to the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) on Sunday.

"[The] earthquakes showed increased activity about 25 kilometres northeast of the island of Santorini, at depths between 5 and 25 kilometres. The closest earthquake to the shores of our country took place at a distance of 140 kilometres," AFAD said in a post on X.

While no damage or injuries have been reported so far, Greek authorities have announced the implementation of precautionary measures in case a major quake strikes, heightening fears of potential widespread destruction.

Seismologists have stated that the ongoing tremors, occurring in clusters of similar magnitude, indicate a pattern that typically precedes a major earthquake.

Sky News reported that the series of tremors could either be foreshocks leading to a larger earthquake or part of a swarm of small quakes that may continue for weeks or months.

"There is no serious technology or approach to predict what will happen from here on," Costas Papazachos, professor of applied geophysics and seismology at the University of Thessaloniki, told the UK news outlet.

The earthquakes originate from the uninhabited Greek islet of Anydros, located northeast of Santorini, according to DW.

While no definitive pattern has been established, scientists confirm that the current seismic activity has significantly intensified compared to previous incidents.

Historically, the region has experienced devastating seismic events, including a massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake in 1956, which generated a tsunami nearly 30 metres high and caused widespread destruction across Santorini, Crete, and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean.