The event
A 45-year-old Spaniard was in intensive care in Chania General Hospital last week following a 4.9 magnitude earthquake at approximately 8.00 am on Sunday morning (13th August). The epicentre of the earthquake was some 7 km east of Sougia, with a focal depth of 5 km. The tremor was felt in Palaiochora, Sougia, and Sfakia, but no damage was reported. There had been a smaller earthquake of 3.4 magnitude near Palaiochora at 4.22 the same morning.
The event triggered an SMS sent from the 112 emergency line, warning citizens to avoid dangerous places such as gorges and cliffs because of the danger of falling rocks. The emergency message was received in Afrata, but the earthquake was not felt, in the upper village at least.
The warning came too late for the unfortunate Spaniard, who was walking the Samaria Gorge with a friend when the earthquake struck and was hit by a falling rock some 1.5 km from Samaria village and 9 km from the northern entrance to the Gorge. He was attended to by the Samaria’s doctor, who give him first aid, and personnel from the forestry service and the Samaria Gorge Management Unit were quickly on the scene, later followed by local fire and ambulance services.
The injured man was carried to Samaria village where a helicopter landed at 2.00 in the afternoon and transferred him to Chania General Hospital. There it became clear that the impact had effectively severed his leg, and he was admitted in a critical condition to intensive care where he was to remain for the following week.
The fire service helped the other visitors to the Gorge, who had remained in a safe place, to make their way down to Agia Roumeli. Fire service personnel from nearby Anopolis meanwhile checked the whole length of the Gorge to identify any dangerous points, while staff from the Chania Ambulance Service gave first aid to some walkers who had received minor injuries from falling stones.
A 4.9 magnitude earthquake near Sougia on Sunday 13th August caused major injury to a Spanish tourist walking the Samaria Gorge, which was closed for over a week afterwards as precaution against aftershocks.
The aftermath
Since there was an evident danger of aftershocks, the Gorge was closed all last week as a precaution, and indeed, as shown on the website of the University of Athens Seismological Laboratory – which has a real-time listing of earthquakes throughout the country – minor tremors continued throughout the week. The most recent one, a 2.1 magnitude tremor situated in the Gorge itself, occurred just before midnight on Sunday 20th August.
By the beginning of this week, it was decided that the danger had passed, and the Gorge could open, but visitors would be obliged to sign a declaration before entering it absolving the authorities of any responsibility in the case of an accident. On Monday the National Environment and Climate Change Agency (NECCA) announced that “It has proceeded with clearing the rock falls which resulted from the earthquake of 13th August and with an initial check of the footpath, so that the Park will be open to the public on Tuesday 22nd August 2023, conditional on the results of the on-the-spot examination of the area which will be carried out by the responsible services and specialised scientists.
“In any case, visitors are advised that they assume full and personal responsibility for any dangers during their entrance to, passage through, stay in and exit from the National Park. They will be obliged to produce a signed declaration to this effect on entering the Gorge, in the form of an ‘ypefthini dilosi’ which will be available from the electronic ticketing site: https://samaria-tickets.necca.gov.gr/checkout and will also be sent to tourist agencies.”
This decision was met with a storm of protest from local authority representatives as well as local businesses, who saw it as threatening the flow of visitors to one of Crete’s major tourist attractions at the height of the tourist season. The scientific team mentioned, headed by earthquake specialist Professor Efthymios Lekkas, was due to make its inspection of the Gorge on Tuesday and NECCA was urged to hold off the decision until their report had been received. In the meantime the Gorge remained closed to visitors.
Injured tourist goes home
By last weekend, the injured tourist had recovered sufficiently to return home in an air ambulance paid for by his Spanish insurance company. His medical treatment will be ongoing and we can only wish him a speedy recovery.
The Gorge reopens
As from 24th August, the Gorge is open again without the requirement for a signed declaration by visitors, which had been met with strong opposition. On Wednesday 23rd August NECCA announced that, following on-site inspections carried out on Monday by the Cretan Regional Unit of the Hellenic Authority for Geological and Mining Research (EAGME) and on Tuesday by the scientific team from the National Kapodistrian University of Athens headed by Professor Efthymios Lekkas, the safety levels in the Gorge have reverted to those prior to the earthquake of 13th August. At the same time, during the preceding days, the footpath was cleared of fallen rocks and is now fully accessible,
In conclusion, NECCA announced that “the Samaria Gorge will be open to visitors from Thursday 24th August without the provision of personal declarations of responsibility.”
(Haniotika Nea, 14-24/08/23)