A landslide occurred in Therasia, Santorini, on Saturday afternoon, next to the port of Korfos, causing a huge cloud of dust, fortunately without any injuries, only some material damages.

Professor of Geology and Natural Disaster Management, as well as president of OASP, Efthymios Lekkas, speaking on an ERT broadcast, stated among other things that “Santorini always has a high landslide risk in the caldera. What does this mean? It means that we have the occurrence of many landslides, and these landslides are due to certain causes. The causes are as follows: the steep morphological slopes, the high seismicity characterizing Santorini, and the sequence of rocks. It is composed of volcanic rocks, lavas, and pyroclastics in continuous repetitions. Pyroclastic rocks dissolve easily, while lavas are perhaps the hardest rocks that exist, so when a lava flow is underlain by a pyroclastic rock, it gradually erodes, resulting in the overlying lava losing support. This is the classic mechanism that develops in Santorini, almost throughout the caldera.”

Mr. Lekkas added that “in 2011, we had the loss of lives in Oia from a landslide event, and generally, the risk is high, but also the exposure of people is very high because we have a high population density during the summer months. Therefore, it creates some problem which we have been pointing out for several years now. The necessary measures have been taken, significant works were carried out in Santorini in 2010 to address landslides, both in Athinios and in the old port and in Oia. But as you can understand, all these are in a dynamic process of evolution […] As I said, some attention is needed. Things are not prohibitive, but some attention is needed. I have already spoken with the Mayor and the Regional Governor, Mr. Hatzimarkos, in the South Aegean, and we have discussed some future actions that need to be taken immediately. And of course, upon the instruction of Minister Kikilias, I will visit Santorini in order to see the urgent actions that need to be taken to reduce the risk, which I emphasize is particularly important because Easter is approaching, and the tourist season is beginning.”

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The moment of the landslide was captured by passengers on boats.

Therasia belongs to the Cyclades and is located to the west of Santorini. It is approximately one mile away from the village of Ammoudi in Oia. The island was a small part of the western coast of prehistoric Strongyli and is considered to have been severed and created during the great eruption of 1600 BC.