A new earthquake of 4 Richter occurred at 9:36 on Monday morning near Santorini, while the Director of Research of the Geodynamic Institute of Athens, Thanasis Ganas, spoke of the two potential events of the seismic sequence in the region, saying that either the remaining ones will remain at these levels or there will be a new greater vibration that will cause tsunami and eruption of the volcano. “Or we will have a swarm, i.e. sizes that will be of the order of 4.5 to 4.7 the upper or have a larger seismic vibration which can cause tsunami and some volcanic eruption. So we are preparing for these scenarios,” Thanasis Ganas, who participated in the meeting under the Prime Minister, told the First Programme. ADVERSION “We do not yet know how this sequence will evolve openly in Santorini and between Santorini Island and Andros, so we have to wait further to see the evolution of the phenomenon,” noted Mr. Ganas, but noted that there must be readiness for the adverse scenario, so all the effort of the state and scientists is made to prepare the state to face an adverse scenario, which includes the stimulation of the volcano. “Among Santorini, which is the complex known to the Kamenas where we last had an explosion in 1950 and last crisis in 2011, and the rock island of Andros, there are 15 other volcanic centers on the bottom. Greater than these are Columbus, which is 8 km northeast. So Columbus is active, very active. The latest evidence shows an increase in gas, so we need to be careful to see how this develops. Therefore new measurements will be made today and tomorrow in the area, new seismographs will be added and new gas shots will be made. The other phenomenon is that we have a shift in the sequence of the seismic sequence from the Santorini caldera northeast, with thousands of earthquakes there small and yesterday we had 12 vibrations over 4, which means that there is a trend strong now and there we have our attention to see how this situation will develop, whether we will have such constant vibrations. It is good that since last night we have had nothing more than 4 this morning, and it is good to prepare ourselves if there is anything greater to deal with this,” Mr. Ganas said. Note: “Right now we know the faults of the area. There is a moat, to explain in geological terms, between Santorini and Amorgos. The last earthquake and the great was in 1956 with a magnitude of 7.5 plus 0.2”. CORVERSE Asked whether the scientific view would emerge that a larger earthquake would not exceed 6 Richter himself said: “It emerged from the existence of fractures on the bottom between Amorgos and Santorini, which are one length. The length of the fault determines its potential. There is an estimate that we will not have an earthquake more than 6. But there can be an earthquake between 5 and 6. If this earthquake occurs it can create a landslide that can create a tsunami. So this is a possible scenario. But it’s not more likely. Most likely this sequence will evolve without further escalation.” At this point he referred to the two scenarios: “I remember last of 2021 in Arkalochori, Crete, Kasteli that we had months there earthquakes of 3 and 4 that eventually led to the great earthquake of 5.9 on 27 September. The second is to have a swarm. But now what we know is that there is a volcanic crisis, a crisis has begun since August 1st, August 2 with our data, then there began to be expansion of the volcano into the caldera and we have no data on what is happening in the underwater area. We don’t know what’s going on there. It is more likely that there will be equally distortion of the floor. So this seismicity is related to the rise of the magma. It’s caused by it. It is tectonic earthquakes there but is currently caused because at a depth of several kilometers, about 12 – 20 km there, there is a magical chamber which feeds both volcanoes actively both Santorini and Colombo. So this is the sudden rise of the magma in the last six months that leads to one, a birth of hundreds and thousands of microshocks.” It cannot be said safely how likely it is to have an eruption of the volcano, according to Mr. Ganas: “It is not possible to make the forecast right now with the evidence we have. That is why I said about the two scenarios. So we have to be prepared. He needs to calm down. We’ll deal with it whatever it is. And I remind you last time in 2011-2012 we had such volcanic crisis, but it did not lead to an explosion.” He concluded by saying: “ There can be no assurance at the moment. What we can say is that there must be no panic. No need to panic. Residents have already received instructions from Civil Protection, there has already been widespread information from both the media and local and municipal authorities and there is no need for panic. We need to calm down. Now we will see how it develops and accordingly we will do. What you and listeners need to know is that measures are being taken for all possible scenarios.”
Earthquakes in Santorini: “A larger vibration can cause tsunami and volcano explosion,” says Seismologist Ganas
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in Greece