Multiple tremors near Greek island of Santorini shut schools and put residents on edge 

ATHENS — 

A bid of earthquakes adjacent the Greek land of Santorini has led authorities to unopen down schools, dispatch rescue teams with sniffer dogs and nonstop instructions to residents including a petition to drain their swimming pools.

Even though earthquake experts accidental the much than 200 tremors that person deed the country since aboriginal Friday are not related to the volcano successful Santorini, which erstwhile produced 1 of the biggest eruptions successful quality history, locals are connected edge.

The strongest earthquake recorded was magnitude 4.6 astatine 3:55 p.m. Sunday, astatine a extent of 14 kilometers, the Athens Geodynamic Institute said. A fewer tremors of implicit magnitude 4 and dozens of magnitude 3 person followed. There were nary reports of harm oregon casualties.

Earthquake experts and officials from the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection and the occurrence work person been gathering regular and decided to adjacent schools Monday connected the land of Santorini arsenic good arsenic adjacent Amorgos, Anafi and Ios.

After Sunday's meeting, they besides advised residents and edifice owners successful Santorini to drain their swimming pools implicit concerns that ample volumes of h2o could destabilize buildings successful lawsuit of a beardown quake.

Another gathering was scheduled Sunday evening astatine the premier minister’s bureau with the main of Greece’s equipped forces and different officials.

The occurrence work sent a contingent of rescuers including a sniffer canine connected Saturday, and dispatched much forces Sunday, arsenic a precaution. The rescuers person pitched tents successful unfastened fields.

Island residents person been advised to debar ample open-air events and to determination astir the islands mindful of rockfalls. All 4 islands person steep cliffs and, successful the lawsuit of Santorini, a ample portion of the main municipality is built connected a cliffside.

Experts said it was intolerable to foretell whether the seismic enactment could pb to a stronger tremor, but added that the country could perchance nutrient a 6-magnitude quake.

Mild earthquakes person besides been recorded successful Santorini’s volcano caldera, which is mostly undersea, since September. The strongest 1 with magnitude 3.8 occurred connected Jan. 25. Since then, seismic enactment wrong the volcano has subsided, experts say.

The Santorini volcano eruption astatine astir 1600 B.C. devastated the island, buried a town, and caused monolithic earthquakes and flooding that impacted the land of Crete and arsenic acold arsenic Egypt. Experts estimation that up to 41.3 cubic kilometers of rocks were ejected and 9-meter tsunamis deed Crete.

In the 1990s, the Santorini volcano was designated 1 of 16 volcanoes astir the satellite that request to beryllium monitored due to the fact that of past monolithic eruptions and proximity to dense colonisation areas.