“There is no particular concern,” said the professor of Geology and Natural Disaster Management and president of the Greek Orthodox Church, Mr. Efthymis Lekkas, speaking on the “Mismatched” program of SKAI, with Yiannis Dzounos and Christos Koutras, about the 5.1 Richter earthquake that occurred last night in Crete, while more than 60 aftershocks have followed.

“There is an intense monitoring of the phenomena that have developed for about five days, with the peak of what happened yesterday just before ten with a magnitude of 5.1 Richter” added the professor and continued:

“The region of central Crete has been in turmoil for a few years now. We cannot say if the 5.1 is the main earthquake because the phenomenon is ongoing.

I believe that large amounts of seismic energy have already been released and we are entering a period of optimism, although the seismic activity may continue for several more days.”

Mr. Lekkas also emphasized that “I am in Crete by order of the ministers and the prime minister and we have already held the coordinating body in southern Crete early in the morning where we verified the readiness of the agencies and gave instructions to the residents.

There are three faults. The two faults bound the Mesara valley to the north and south, and a transversal fault runs through the other two faults. The seismic activity occurred at the intersection of these two faults that have produced earthquakes in the past.”

Regarding the earthquake in Corinth that took place yesterday, Mr. Lekkas emphasized that “it is a small one that has produced small earthquakes. I don’t think it has the potential to cause bigger earthquakes.”