Santorini returns to normality

Following the flurry of earthquakes of magnitude 4.0-5.0 Richter during the first half of the month of February, which resulted in the closure of schools in the Cyclades generally and an exodus of workers and residents especially from Santorini, the seismic sequence has shown signs of receding over the past 10 days or so, bringing hopes of a return to normality before the start of the all-important tourist season. Following meetings of the committees for assessing Seismic and Volcanic Risk, the decision has been taken to reopen the schools from Tuesday 4th March, resulting in a flow of returning residents, while hotels and restaurants are proceeding with preparations to welcome the first tourists in the middle of this month.

Earthquake chart
Chart showing the incidence of earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 Richter and above in the period 01/02/25 to 28/02/25. Nearly 1,150 tremors of magnitude 3.0 and above were registered during the same period, of which 193 were 4.0 Richter and over. Data source, University of Athens Seismological Laboratory.

Speaking to the news site in.gr, the President of the Earthquake Planning and Protection Organisation, Professor Efthymios Lekkas, said that all the indicators show a significant diminution of the seismic sequence and that while a further 5.0 magnitude tremor was not impossible it was unlikely to have any sequel, as the phenomenon had lost a lot of its power. He also noted that the area’s public buildings, which had already shown good resistance to earthquakes in pre-seismic testing carried out previously, had come through the recent events unscathed, without showing any signs of damage.

At the same time, seismologists, geologists and volcanologists are continuing their studies, collecting new data and placing new seismographs at critical points on the island. Speaking to ERT News on Tuesday, seismologist Professor Kostas Papazachos of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki confirmed the view that the current seismic sequence had been completed and that there was no reason for the schools to stay closed any longer. He also said that the seismologists’ capacity for monitoring seismic developments has been considerably increased as a result of the events off Santorini:

Kostas Papazachos on ERT News
Seismologist Kostas Papazachos, who is President of the Institute for the Study and Monitoring of the Santorini Volcano, told ERT News that the recent spate of earthquakes has enabled them to carry out far more intensive studies of the area than had been possible hitherto.

“We have already undertaken a series of actions which are inevitably not visible to the public. At the moment, to put it briefly, we have the ability to detect earthquakes and detect seismic activity which we did not have before the present sequence started. We are shortly expecting funding from central government enabling the monitoring network on the island to be improved even further, with seismological stations and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems).

“In addition we have already installed a dense network of seismographs for scientific purposes. The day before yesterday we completed the installation of 120 seismographs on the island of Santorini so that we can see very small events in very large detail, chiefly for scientific purposes. So we scientists will continue to work in the area for the coming months, as we have been doing for decades. However, this does not mean that there is any cause for anxiety. Simply, we are as it were exploiting the current activity so as to study things which nobody could follow in times where there are no earthquakes.”
(Haniotika Nea, 01/03/25, www.in.gr, www.ertnews.gr)