It's only a week after a massive 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck Crete's coast on Thursday (May 22), with similar seabed tremors near the island felt as far away as Egypt. In February, a series of nearly constant earthquakes were felt near the iconic popular Santorini Island, forcing authorities to declare a state of emergency against unusual seismic activity.
Now, tourists are being urged to become familiar with the best ways to protect themselves in the event of such tremors. The earthquake off Crete off the coast of Crete caused authorities to issue tsunami warnings, causing buildings to be damaged in the island's historic port. Remy Boss, executive director of Europe's medieval earthquake centre, told Euroneus, “Every time I go to Greece, I go to a seismically active area.”
“The risk is not significantly higher than yesterday or February.”
Nevertheless, it is important that tourists preparing to visit the island know the best ways to protect themselves.
“The most likely cause of injury is that if you're inside, the object falls. So you have to go under the table and protect yourself by avoiding open areas where possible,” Boss said.
“Earthquakes of such size themselves won't automatically injure people, but they can happen if tiles from the roof or balcony collapse, so you need to know how to act during an earthquake.
Regarding tsunami warnings, this will be automatically triggered in the Mediterranean if a submarine earthquake reaches magnitude 6, the Secretary-General explained.
The expert added: “In general, we don't expect a big tsunami for magnitude 6. At this level, the recommendation is that you can swirl and you won't be able to go to the harbor as the sea level may be rising somewhat and you won't be able to go to the beach.”
The earthquake on Thursday was felt throughout the Aegean Sea and even parts of Athens, the Greek capital. The British tourist shared the moment he woke up to Tiktok's trembling in a video captioned “The most horrifying experience of my life.”
In the video she said: “Please forgive me for my condition. I woke up with an earthquake. I'm absolutely petroleum. I was literally asleep and woken up to a shaking room. I thought the TV would fall.
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