Cretanvista Site & Local News - January 2006 Issue 35 |
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No links to sites with adult content accepted. |
FEBRUARY
WEATHER ... _____________________________
Village Life... 'A little Shaken'... Naturally
enough, not being here, he doesn’t feel he can comment on it, and has asked
Richard and me to do the news item for this month, as our part of the island
(near Kastelli) was well-and-truly rattled. When
we were having our house designed four years ago, everyone referred airily to
“earthquake regulations” and the need for these to be incorporated. Our
building insurance includes earthquake cover, but I suppose we were a bit blasé
about this. We had a couple of minor tremors in our first eighteen months
here– this part of the Mediterranean is quite active seismically, but
anything much below 4 on the Richter scale is unlikely to be noticed. We had a
couple at about 4.3, which sounded like a train going past outside with
accompanying mini vibration and a bit of plate rattling. Naturally enough, as
relative newcomers to the village, we take our lead from our neighbours, and
as they never even referred to the shudders in conversation with us, we were
learning to take the odd vibration in our stride. On
Sunday, January 8, we had just finished lunch and were going about our
different projects – I was working at the computer on the gallery upstairs
and Richard was in his workshop down in the basement. Suddenly, there was a
loud rumble and the whole house started to heave about. It took a second or
two for me to realise what was happening. Richard rushed up the basement
stairs, shouting “Outside!” I
speedily made my way down the stairs, which were moving around like something
you would find in the “Crazy House” at a fairground. I grabbed onto
Richard in the hall and we both dashed outside and stood in the garden,
clinging together. Our neighbours from across the road ran outside as well.
The wife was screaming in fear, which really put the wind up us! We
were standing next to the car, which was jiggling around on its suspension
while the ground moved under it. Nature continued to writhe and rumble for
what seemed like minutes, but was probably only about thirty seconds. Our
legs, however, were trembling for hours afterwards! I ran up into the village
to see if our friends were alright, and found the shepherd and his brother
extracting terrified lambs from an ancient building where a wall had
collapsed. Luckily everyone in the village was unhurt, and none of the houses
had suffered any serious damage. Checking
our own house afterwards, we were amazed to find only ornaments had tipped
over and a couple of pictures askew. Who would have thought that a solid
structure could move like that – and not even sustain any cracks? It
appears that this was a very big quake by Greek standards – 6.9 on the
Richter scale – and centred in the ocean about 80 miles north of us. It was
felt all over the eastern According
to the elderly people in our village, this was easily the worst earthquake
they remember since the very bad one in ……… that caused such a lot of
damage and loss of life on Kefalonia (see Captain
Corelli’s Mandolin). Apparently
the telephone lines – both landlines and mobile phone networks – were
jammed for about 30 minutes after the happening, with people phoning loved
ones to check on their safety. I telephoned family in the UK, not sure whether
anything would have been reported there – and my sister informed me I
“must come home immediately”. She obviously thinks I am on some kind of
extended holiday – but earthquakes or not, I am
home! |
In the News... Peace rally follows Rethymnon murder.. And trying to make internet crime pay .. But the net becomes safer for children.. And maybe Crete has an answer to wind.. By air to Greece (or anywhere else).. Athens Acropolis..
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Moving to Crete - Practical Advice.. An e-mail copy is available as a Microsoft word file - a very fast email of very useful information. |
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