The earthquakes ratuliza to Santorini, lead the tourist exodus of the volcanic island of Greece

London – Tourists continued fleeing from the Greek island of Santorini on Wednesday, a fourth consecutive day of exodus caused by a series of earthquakes that have shaken the incredibly popular European holiday destination. Around 7,000 people have left the island, which is located southeastern Greece in the continent, from the The earthquakes began last weekAccording to the AFP news agency.

Most visitors have left Santorini in Ferry, but there have also been flights.

Until Tuesday, more than 1,000 earthquakes, with magnitudes of up to 5.2 in the Richter scaleHe had registered near the island, most of them focused only 15 miles from their coasts in the Aegean Sea, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center.

Effthimios Lekkas, head of the State Organization for Earthquake Planning and Protection, told Greek national television that earthquakes moved north, far from the island, according to Associated Press.

“This can last several days or several weeks,” he said. “We cannot predict the evolution of the sequence in time.”

Is that the unpredictability of earthquakes has moved away the people of the island; No one can say with certainty if the hundreds of small earthquakes mean that a bigger tremor is on its way.

“I understand the fear of what it means at this time to be in a Santorini that moves constantly,” said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, urging residents to keep calm and follow any instruction provided by officials.

The experts told the AFP French news agency that the region had not experienced such an intense seismic activity since the records began in 1964.

Santorini has been on a volcano that has not exploded since 1950, but an expert committee said Monday that the current eruption of earthquakes “was not linked to volcanic activity.”

“It’s different this time”

While earthquakes have left cracks in some buildings, no substantial damage or injuries have been reported. The neighboring islands of Anafi, iOS and Amorgos have not reported victims either.

The schools in the four islands have also been closed during the week as a precaution, and Santorini has canceled public and restricted events to the island.

Around 3.4 million people visited Santorini in 2023, according to AFP.

Paniotis Hatzigeorgiou, a retired police officer and ship worker who has lived on the island for more than 30 years, told AP that it would not go, despite the invitations to stay with relatives in the Greek capital, Athens.

“Senior residents are accustomed to earthquakes,” he said. “But this time is different. It is not the same to have earthquakes every two or three minutes.”

“The main thing is not to worry,” he said, and added with a smile: “Now we can listen to music alone and have coffee for ourselves.”