Earthquakes in Santorini: “Buildings can withstand hit up to 6 Richter”

They continue at unabated rates in the with seismologists to appear concerned about the phenomenon. The earthquakes in Santorini have surpassed 400 in the last 24 hours and as the Director of the Geodynamic Institute Mr. Vasilis Karastathis stressed “what we are looking at right now is the evolution of the sequence. Since 24 January we have had an increase in seismicity and so far there have been 40 earthquakes. 100 of them were over 3. Now in the last two days and especially in the last 24 hours we have had a significant increase in large-scale earthquakes. We had 11 earthquakes over 4. All this image of the sequence is something that troubles us and that is why we remain on alert.” Asked whether buildings on the islands can withstand an earthquake of 5 or 6 Richter, the director of the Geodynamic Institute replies: “The buildings can withstand a hit of Enceladus as 6 Richter. From that point on, however, this mobilisation should not be taken as waiting for a major earthquake. It’s just because it’s a possibility that it can’t be ruled out. There is also the possibility that the sequence will end smoothly.” Finally, about when we can say that the danger has passed, Mr Karastathis says: “The danger will have passed based on the evolution of the sequence. The seismic sequence begins to dilute when this happens. Taking into account other sequence parameters we can then be more reassuring.”