Holidaymakers are being urged to “immediately depart” parts of Greece as a state of emergency continues following more earthquakes.
The area around the Cycladic islands of Santorini (Thira), Anafi, Ios and Amorgos, is currently experiencing frequent earthquakes. The UK Foreign Office has warned that the earthquakes “may continue for several weeks.”
According to reports on Wednesday, Santorini has been rattled by a further earthquake. The latest one is the strongest so far with a magnitude of 5.3. Medical staff staged a hospital evacuation drill as scientists said it is unclear whether the weeks of highly unusual seismic activity precede a larger quake.
Several more quakes with magnitudes between 4 and 4.8 hit on Tuesday with epicentres between the islands of Amorgos and Santorini, one of Greece’s most popular tourist destinations. Thousands of residents and visitors have left the island, while schools on Santorini and nearby islands have been ordered to remain closed for the week.
The FCDO said: “The Greek authorities advised people in those areas not to attend large indoors gatherings, to avoid old or abandoned buildings and the ports of Amoudi, Armeni, Korfos and Old Port (Paleos Limenas) in the area of Fira and to choose safe routes when travelling, particularly in areas where the landslide risk is high. In case of a strong tremor, people should immediately depart coastal areas.
“On 6 February the Greek Ministry of Civil Protection declared a State of Emergency on Santorini until 3 March, to allow its emergency services to facilitate access to and mobilisation of resources to prepare. If you are in the affected areas, you should keep up to date with and follow the advice of local authorities and emergency services.
“For further guidance on how to prepare for earthquakes, please visit the Greek Ministry of Civil Protection (in English) and to see, for anywhere in Greece, where your nearest assembly points are located in case of emergency you can visit mysafetyplan.gov.gr (map with text in Greek).”
The measures, under which the army is expected to take a more active role in crisis management, will be in effect until 3 March when the Christian Orthodox nation marks the beginning of Lent, reports BirminghamLive. “It’s what we need to deal with this situation and we requested that it be enforced,” said Santorini’s mayor, Nikos Zorzos.
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/travel-tourism/foreign-office-warns-brits-immediately-30987472
