A large 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Crete on Thursday (May 22), barely a week after a similar undersea tremor near the island was felt as far away as Egypt. In February, a series of near-constant quakes were felt near the iconic popular island of Santorini, forcing authorities to declare a state of emergency over the unusual seismic activity.
Now, tourists are being urged to familiarise themselves with how best to protect themselves in the event of such tremors, which can be unsettling. The quake off Crete prompted authorities to issue a tsunami warning and damaged buildings in the island’s historic port. Rémy Bossu, Secretary-General of the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, told Euronews that “every time you go to Greece, you are going to a seismically active region”.
“The hazards are not significantly higher than they were yesterday, or in February.”
Nevertheless, it is important that tourists preparing a visit to the islands know the best way to protect themselves.
“The most likely cause of injuries is falling objects if you are inside. So you have to protect yourself by going below a table and avoiding open areas when possible,” Mr Bossu said.
“The earthquake of such magnitude itself does not automatically injure people, but tiles from roofs or balconies might do if they collapse. So you have to know how to behave during an earthquake and above all, listen to what authorities say.”
Regarding the tsunami warning, this is automatically triggered in the Mediterranean in the event of an undersea earthquake that reaches magnitude 6, the Secretary-General explained.
The expert added: “Typically, for magnitude 6, you do not expect a large tsunami. For this level, what is advised is not to go into harbours because it can create a whirlpool and not go on the beach because you may have some rise in sea levels.”
Thursday’s earthquake was felt throughout the Aegean Sea and as far as parts of the Greek capital of Athens. One British tourist shared the moment she was woken up by the quake on TikTok in a video captioned: “Scariest experience of my life.”
In the video she said: “Excuse the state of me. I’ve just been woken up by a f***ing earthquake. I am absolutely petrified. I was literally asleep and I woke up to the room shaking. I thought the TV was going to fall off. […] I’m so f**ing scarred”.
Another commented: “It woke us up but our hotel is at the beach and I’m scared of a tsunami”.
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
