As Santorini has been shaking for days now, with visitors and many residents fleeing the island, one can’t help but reflect on its recent development.
Million-euro villas with infinity pools perched on cliff edges, luxury hotels, extravagant restaurants, and premium beachfront facilities – all built on an island with an active volcano in a seismic zone.
1956 may seem like ancient history, but on July 9th of that year, a 7.5 Richter earthquake struck the island, triggering a volcanic eruption and generating a massive tsunami that affected Santorini and neighbouring islands as far as Astypalea.
This was recorded as Europe’s largest earthquake of the 20th century, claiming 53 lives, injuring 100, and causing devastating damage.
Millennia earlier, around 1600 BC, a volcanic eruption on Santorini is believed to have led to the collapse of the Minoan civilisation. The island’s famous caldera itself was formed by volcanic activity.
Beyond the area’s five volcanoes, both active and dormant, the island is surrounded by tectonic plates that now seem to be shifting, causing panic with their tremors.
In this environment – terrifying when you analyse it – one of Greece’s largest tourism enterprises was built. Watching the sunset from Santorini’s caldera became a bucket-list staple in lifestyle magazines.
Couples somehow convinced themselves that getting married on this island of volcanoes and tectonic plates would strengthen their union. A place that manages to exist despite its ominous setting saw its dramatic landscape recast in the tourist imagination as idyllic.
There’s something remarkable about humanity’s conviction that we can tame nature – that we can control earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis.
Hence the millions invested on cliff edges, above active volcanoes. Is this naivety, arrogance, or perhaps an optimistic life stance that everything will be fine, at least during our earthly tenure?
That all the frightening possibilities will materialise much later, when we’re long gone? That we have time to profit from nature’s wildness, serenity, or whatever charm it offers?
But do we really have that time? Visitors are rushing to abandon the island, business owners worry about the lost season, and the island’s loyal residents – those with deep roots – try to protect themselves without leaving their homeland.