PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis Visits Santorini Amid Ongoing Seismic Activity

The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis travelled to the Cycladic island of Santorini on Friday, February 7, as intense seismic activity continues to shake the island. The prime minister will be accompanied by Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilias and Professor of Natural Disasters Konstantinos Synolakis.

From the Mobile Coordination Center of the Fire Department on the island, the prime minister stated that the goal of his visit was to oversee the preparation of the state services for the ongoing geological phenomenon.

“We are carefully listening to the directions and instructions of the experts. We will continue to monitor the phenomenon,” he noted.

He furthermore, reassured the residents of Santorini and the neighboring islands that the state services are ready to support them.

“I recommend calmness, urging you to follow the instructions of civil protection, and we hope that the phenomenon will soon end, so life on the island can return to its normalcy,” Mitsotakis concluded.

The island has been declared in a state of emergency as of Thursday, February 6 until March 1, with teams from Athens being on the island conducting inspections of buildings.

During his visit the prime minister is expected to visit the locations where members of the Special Unit for Crisis Response (EMAK) and the EMODE unit have been stationed. In Thira, he will meet with EMODE rescuers and EMAK rescuers who have been deployed there and he will assess the level of preparedness on the island firsthand.

Yesterday, the forces on the island were reinforced with vehicles from the Army, the Fire Department, including the specialized earthquake rescue vehicle “3434” from Piraeus, and the Police (a 10-member OPKE team). Additionally, two trucks carrying generators were also deployed.

Synolakis who is accompanying the prime minister will identify locations for the installation of tide gauges, as there were none in the area. These scientific instruments measure the sea level and are necessary to monitor changes in the sea level in case of a tsunami.

As reported the first instrument will be ready for installation on Friday, with Synolakis not ruling out the possibility that we may be witnessing the birth of a new volcano.