Santorini suffers strongest tremor since earthquakes started

CGTN Europe

The Greek island of Santorini has suffered its strongest earthquake yet, after thousands of tremors since January.   Scientists are monitoring the situation amid concerns there could be a volcanic eruption.   CGTN’s Evangelo Sipsas report

Transcript

00:00Santorini is no stranger to shaking ground, but this time it's different.

00:05On Monday, scientists, experts and even military personnel gathered at the island's port,

00:11bringing out some serious high-tech equipment to keep an eye on Santorini's volcano.

00:16And even the pros are admitting, this level of activity is something they haven't seen before.

00:22I haven't experienced something like this before.

00:26But in the last, I think, 25 years, there were two previous events

00:33with increased earthquake activity here at Santorini and around Santorini.

00:39However, this event is larger than what was experienced before.

00:43The problem? This is a phenomenon unlike anything they've dealt with before.

00:49And even with all the latest tools and sensors,

00:52figuring out exactly what's going on and how long it might last is going to take time.

00:58We can say for sure that we cannot say anything for sure.

01:03I mean, yes, as scientists, it's always very difficult to rule out scenarios.

01:11We have a limited database and we are getting more and more data,

01:15and our ideas are getting better with time.

01:19And, yeah, so right now we actually need to wait and see how the situation develops.

01:26This phenomenon is so unusual that scientists are divided,

01:29with some convinced the tremors have nothing to do with the nearby submarine volcano Colombo.

01:35But don't breathe too easy just yet.

01:38The one thing they do agree is that they are in uncharted waters,

01:42making it impossible to say for certain what will happen next.

01:46All the seismic activity that has occurred during these days

01:50has nothing to do with Nea Kameni and submarine volcano Colombo.

01:54But this is a very unique geological phenomenon,

01:57so we need to analyze and to have in our hands all the data,

02:01seismic data, geophysical data, geodetic data, gravity data,

02:05in order to make a synthesis of all the data and to understand this phenomenon.

02:11Scientists are tracking every rubble, every shift,

02:14but there's no crystal ball for what's going to happen next or when.

02:19Santorini's volcano has a history of surprises,

02:22and while experts are hoping this is just another restless phase,

02:26there's always the chance Mother Nature is gearing up for something bigger.

02:31Evangelos Tsipsas for CGTN, from the island of Santorini.

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