Thousands flee Santorini amid quakes

[Anchor]

In the area of Santorini, Greece, which is famous as a global tourist destination, over 500 earthquakes have occurred in the past few days.

Amid fears of a larger earthquake, residents are hastily leaving the island.

This is a report by correspondent An Da-young.

[Report]

Santorini, known for its white walls and blue-roofed houses perched on steep cliffs.

Here, a mass exodus of residents is underway.

This is due to the ongoing earthquakes in the waters near the island since Feb. 1.

In the last four days, more than 550 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or higher, with a maximum of 4.8, have occurred.

[Francesca Pauli/Santorini Resident: "We are leaving because we feel an extreme fear of not knowing what will happen. We have been eating and sleeping in our cars, but we can no longer endure it."]

All schools on the island have temporarily closed, and restaurants and shops have also shut their doors.

The flow of tourists, which reaches 3.4 million annually, has also come to a halt.

The area in front of travel agencies and the port is crowded with people trying to leave the island.

Already, more than 7,000 residents, over one-third of the total population, have left the island, and that number is expected to rise.

[Dori/Santorini Resident: "Everything is closed. No one is working right now. The entire island is empty."]

Santorini is a seismically active area; in 1956, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake resulted in the deaths of over 50 people.

However, it is rare to experience hundreds of earthquakes in just a few days like this.

Greek scientists warn that the earthquakes could continue for several weeks, but they still say the likelihood of a magnitude 6.0 or higher earthquake occurring remains low.

Reporting from Paris, this is KBS News' An Da-young.