Fear Grips Santorini as New Quakes Strike and Turkey Warns That the Island’s Volcano Could Blow

ATHENS — Is Turkey just yanking Greece’s chain, or is this stuff serious? As earthquakes rattled the Greek island of Santorini anew on Wednesday, the big country on the opposite side of the Aegean Sea — Turkey — issued a warning that a catastrophic volcanic eruption may be imminent. While Greek authorities have downplayed any connection between the recent spate of earthquakes, the Turkish ones are seemingly taking an opposing view, jolting nerves as the island continues to empty out. The Turkish interior ministry’s disaster and emergency unit issued a preliminary assessment report on the hundreds of recent earthquakes in the Aegean and in that report announced that “seismic vibrations are likely to lead to volcanic activity.”The ministry also announced that “In the event of volcanic activity in the region, our country may be affected by impacts such as the transport of small volcanic ash…pyroclastic flows that may develop due to the height and collapse of the volcanic column, as well as a tsunami that may be generated after the eruption or earthquake.”The Turkish announcement added that “a similar intensity of seismic activity was observed in the same area for 14 months in between 2011 and 2012, but that it did not lead to volcanic activity.” It concluded that “the activity occurring in the Aegean is being carefully monitored in terms of earthquake, volcanic, and tsunami risks.”Nerves in the Greek island are already jangled without Turkish warnings. Shortly after 9 p.m. on Wednesday another earthquake, measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale, shook Santorini and was felt as far away as Crete, about 125 miles south of the island. Video footage captured scenes of panicked islanders, although most of the island’s residents have already left the island. The earthquakes have triggered landslides at Santorini’s Red Beach, so named for the reddish hue of its volcanic cliffs. Schools and shops have been shuttered and animals abandoned. At an emergency meeting of the Greek Ministry of Civil Protection on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mitsotakis appeared to strike a calmer note.“We are a little more optimistic today than we were yesterday, without — I emphasize — being able to make any predictions,” Mr. Mitsotakis said, adding that “the entire state apparatus has been mobilized.” Mr. Mitsotakis was speaking before the 5.2 struck, but after a slightly smaller earthquake had been felt as far away as the outskirts of Athens.A Greek coast guard vessel and a military landing craft are now in the vicinity of Santorini in the event an official evacuation is required, Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias, who formerly served as the tourism minister, told the emergency meeting, which was also attended by security officials and scientists.“We are obliged to draw up scenarios for better and for worse,” Mr. Kikilias said during the meeting, which was televised live.Greece lies in a seismically active area, and earthquakes are frequent. Santorini forms part of the volcanic arc in the Aegean. The Minoan eruption of circa 1600 B.C. was among the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded human history. It was preceded by the formation of the island’s iconic volcanic caldera, which is today mostly submerged.The scientific consensus is that the recent earthquake activity could lead to a major and potentially destructive earthquake registering 6.0 or more on the Richter scale, but that the seismic activity does not point to a volcanic eruption. It is rare for any part of the country to experience such an intense barrage of frequent earthquakes.“I understand the fear of what it means at the moment to be on a Santorini that is constantly moving,” Mr. Mitsotakis said on Wednesday, as he called on what few residents have remained to remain calm.

Fear Grips Santorini as New Quakes Strike and Turkey Warns That the Island’s Volcano Could Blow

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