Crews of experts on Saturday began examining the damage to cultural monuments and infrastructure on the eastern Greek island of Kos, one day after a powerful earthquake killed two tourists and injured nearly 500 others in the Aegean Sea region that stretches to Turkey’s sprawling coast.
Residents and tourists were still jittery as a series of aftershocks on Saturday night continued to rock the island.
A magnitude 4.4 tremor struck at 8:09pm on Saturday, sending residents and restaurant customers scurrying toward the middle of the town’s main square, as far away as possible from buildings. Sixteen minutes later, a magnitude 4.6 tremor struck, the Athens Geodynamics Institute reported.
Photo: AP
The first tremor had its epicenter only 20km northeast of Kos at a depth of 10km.
Hundreds of residents and tourists spent Friday night sleeping outdoors on the island, too afraid to return to their homes or hotels after the quake that struck early on Friday.
The aftershocks on Saturday night meant that many would spend a second night outdoors.
During the day in Kos, churches, an old mosque, the port’s 14th-century castle and other old buildings that suffered in the quake were being checked by archeologists and experts from Greek Ministry of Culture.
The island’s biggest infrastructure problem was the damage to the main port. Coast guard divers were on the scene inspecting the jetty, Kos Mayor Giorgos Kyritsis said.
“Life on the island is returning to normal,” Kyritsis said. “The infrastructure problems are being repaired.”
The mayor said Kos had not seen many tourist cancellations as a result of the quake.
“[Visitors] are touring the island with their tour guides. We don’t have a big problem. The ferry connection has been restored with the port of Kefalos and we are waiting as soon as possible to repair the damage at the port,” he said.
Life on the island had returned to its easy-going ways, gift shop owner Giannis Manoutkos said.
“Everything is normal now. The situation was bad for two days... We are coming to a normal life again,” he said.
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