Greece Immediately Builds Special Port For Evacuation On Santorini Tourism Island Which Is Prone To Earthquakes

UNSPLASH//James Ting ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Greece will soon build an evacuation port on Santorini Island to facilitate the safe evacuation of people if a larger earthquake hits such popular tourist destinations.

Santorini, the volcanic island of the Aegean Sea, was rocked by tens of thousands of light earthquakes since late January, forced thousands of people to flee, and authorities banned construction activities, and closed nearby schools and islands.

No major damage has been reported but scientists say the seismic activity has never happened before even in earthquake-prone countries like Greece and does not rule out a greater earthquake.

Local authorities have identified the main ferry port at the foot of a steep slope and other locations in Santorini as a weak point, although they have not said the port cannot be used in emergency situations.

Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said Greece would build an evacuation port for passenger ferries until new port infrastructure becomes available.

"Together with the new port in Santorini that is being prepared, there is a decision to establish an escape port on the part of the island where passenger ferries can dock in a state of emergency," he said in an interview with Greek television ANT1.

Although the earthquake shaking eased over the weekend, the local government extended emergency measures for the third week on Sunday and reaffirmed calls for people to stay away from coastal areas and slopes of steep hills prone to landslides.

The story is not over yet, Costas Papazachos, a seismological professor, and earthquake spokesman Santorini told ERT public broadcasters.

Both authorities and local residents must get used to this unpleasant situation for some time, it could be two, three months.

Santorini formed as it is now after one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history, around 1600 BC.

Seismologists say the latest seismic activity, due to the movement of tectonic plates and magma, has pushed the island's subsurface up.