Professor of Geology and Natural Disaster Management, Efthymios Lekkas, spoke about the ongoing seismic activity between Santorini and Amorgos.

“Mr. Kikilias has called us for a ministerial meeting to inform the ministers about the situation, and then I will return to Santorini. This morning at 4:40 a.m., we had an earthquake of 4.9 on the Richter scale. The night was relatively calm, but then we had an upward surge. We estimate that this surge will continue in the coming days. These earthquakes release the forces slowly and gradually. I would like an earthquake of 5.2-5.3 on the Richter scale to release the forces more quickly. With an earthquake of around 5.5 on the Richter scale, we estimate that there would be no impact on the island,” he initially said on MEGA TV.

He continued: “The scenario of 6 Richter or higher has a low probability. The residents of Santorini should feel safe. There should be no panic to leave. I’ve noticed that mainly foreigners who work here are leaving. These earthquakes occur at a depth of 15 kilometers. The depth at which an earthquake occurs is important to us. It matters because it helps us pinpoint the seismic fault, and that is crucial because we have a complex of faults, and the accurate calculation of the fault makes it easier for us to interpret.”

On the shifting of the earthquake’s focus and the volcano of Santorini: “The epicenter of the earthquake is shifting, moving towards the northeast towards Amorgos. This means it is moving away from Santorini, and that is good, but it is going towards Amorgos. Amorgos is not as vulnerable as Santorini. The effects of an earthquake would be smaller in Amorgos than in Santorini. This has nothing to do with the volcano. Not that there is no volcanic activity—it has existed for thousands of years. For the eruption of the Santorini volcano to happen again, we have calculated that it would need approximately 17,000 years. The volcano has erupted every 20,000 years over the last 200,000 years. There have been smaller activities, but they are very slow.”