A strong earthquake near Santorini after days of tremor

A strong earthquake is recorded between the Greek islands of Amorgos and Santorini, after days of successive tremor in the area.

More than 11,000 people have already left Santorini, with about 7,000 leaving with ferry and 4,000 people leaving air.

The earthquake followed two smaller tremor minutes earlier and was recorded at 21:09 local time (19:09 GMT) as a magnitude 5.2 tremor, making it the strongest in recent days. It is believed to have arisen at a depth of 5 km.

No major damage has been reported so far, but authorities are taking precautions.

Santorini welcomes millions of tourists a year, but at the moment it means that locals and workers make up the bigger part of the evacuated ones.

Santorini schools – other neighboring islands, including Anaphi, Paros, Naxos and Mykonos – will remain closed until Friday when authorities will decide when they can open again.

Vasilis Kikilias, the Minister of Climate and Civil Protection, said that units of firefighters specializing in natural disasters are sent to Santorini. Teams with special dogs and a mobile operation center have also been sent to the island, while helicopters are in a standby mode in the event of an emergency.

Kikilias also said that the coast guards and the armed forces would be available to help vulnerable people who wish to evacuate.

Earlier on Wednesday, Greek Prime Minister Kiriakos Mitotakis struck an optimistic tone of a meeting of civil protection experts.

“First of all, the state trusts science and scientists. We did this in other crises,” the prime minister said.

“All the plans are fulfilled. The forces have been moved to Santorini and other islands, so we are ready for any possible conditions,” Mitotakis stressed.

“We will continue with the good hope that things will improve and the phenomenon will go away.”

Mitotakis ended his statement with an appeal to the islanders to “stay calm and to cooperate with the authorities.”

“I understand the fear of being Santorini, who is constantly shaking,” he added, emphasizing that the situation will be appreciated daily.

Santorini is what is known as the Hellenic volcanic arc – a chain of islands created by volcanoes – but the last major eruption was in the 50s.

The Greek authorities have said that recent tremor are related to the movements of tectonic plates, not volcanic activities.

Scientists cannot predict the exact moment, size or location of earthquakes.

But there are areas of the world where they are more likely to emerge, which help governments to prepare.

Earthquakes are the result of the movement of tectonic plates in the earth’s crust. Sometimes these plates are locked together when they meet, which is called the boundary of the plate or a line of damage.

Santorini and other Greek islands are close to such a line.