‘I’m a British expat in Santorini – here’s why I’m staying’

A British expat who has lived in Santorini for 35 years has said she and her family are staying put amid the earthquake swarm until an official evacuation order is issued for their village.  

Mickey Baliaka told Metro ‘things are a little bit shaky’ but she has experienced more powerful tremors in the past.

The massage studio owner, originally from Windsor, Berkshire, said ‘it’s almost more scary when you don’t feel one’ as the earthquake activity has become so commonplace in recent days.

Her husband, Fortis, is still working as a chef in a taverna on the Aegean island, where hundreds of undersea earthquakes have shaken the ground over the past week.  

‘There’s no doom and gloom, it’s a little bit shaky but it’s not horrendous,’ Mickey said. 

‘The bigger ones have been a bit further away so we don’t feel them so much.  

‘There’s no damage or anything like that. A lot of people have left and there have been stories about panic but it hasn’t felt like that, a lot of people who wanted to leave have been able to leave calmly.

‘Very understandably people with young children have left, which I definitely would have done if my children were young as well.  

‘People with second homes in Athens have also left.

‘I understand it because if you’ve not had experience of earthquakes before this is quite scary.’ 

The mum of two, 58, who owns Holistic House on idyllic Kamari Beach, said ‘things are rattling a bit’ during the continued tremors.

The most powerful one so far had a magnitude of 5.2, occurring at a depth of 5km between Santorini and neighbouring island Amorgos. 

The earthquakes have led to more than 11,000 people leaving the island by ferry and air, according to officials.

So far, no official word has come to evacuate the central village of Vothonas, where the couple and son Adam, 26, are waiting it out.

Mickey said: ‘At the moment it’s almost more scary when you don’t feel one because you start wondering why not?

‘You hear a deep sound first and then there’s a shake. Things are rattling a little bit but nothing’s fallen off the walls or anything like that.  

‘I’ve been in earthquakes before where you feel like the Earth is rolling beneath you, but at the moment it feels like we’re shaking.’ 

Mickey praised the government response and has also been encouraged by friends pledging to stay and help in the event of a worst case scenario.

‘If the government advises us to leave, we will,’ she said.  

‘My husband’s still working as a chef at the moment and all the seismologists, doctors and reporters are eating at the taverna.  

‘It’s also a good place for old people who haven’t left to stay in contact with other people. As the seismologists are here we’ll also listen to them and go if they tell us to.  

‘The Greek government has been very good, the emergency services were brought on the island very fast, the army’s here, the police are in full force, so everybody’s here.  

‘I have a few friends who have also stayed to help if something does happen and worst comes to worst.’  

Mickey described the island, where no major damage has been reported so far, as much quieter than usual.

‘It’s very quiet but I’ve lived here now for 35 years and to me it’s reminiscent of what it would be like at Christmas 20 years ago,’ she said.  

‘Back then everyone would leave the island because the children were on holiday and they would go abroad and there wasn’t such a big population.

‘The supermarkets are still open and if you had just visited the island and you were walking round the supermarket you’d think it was a normal day, you wouldn’t think there was no one here.

‘There are cars out and around and people are keeping in touch with each other. We are going out for walks and staying outside as much as we can although the weather is very cold.

‘To be outside and to be with other people is a good idea, especially for your mental health because staying inside makes you go a little bit crazy.’ 

Tour guide Kostas Sakavaras is among those who have left the island, travelling to his family’s flat in Athens with his wife Veronika and their two children, aged 10 and 11.  

Kostas, 51, and his family left Vothonas on Sunday, with the closure of the children’s schools leaving little reason for them to tough it out.  

‘There were very frequent tremors, up to eight an hour, maybe even more,’ he said. 

‘They were not really strong, only minor tremors but you have this constant uneasiness because you never know how strong the next one will be.  

‘There was no damage, no cracks, nothing falling off the walls but there was this anxiety about what was to come, so we just decided to pack our things and leave.  

‘Once they announced the schools were closed there was no reason for us to stay, especially when we are blessed with a flat in Athens.’  

Kostas, whose tour groups include visitors from the UK, is among thousands of Santorinians anxiously waiting for news about the earthquakes and when they can return home.  

‘You leave with the hope that you will be back in a few days but when things keep dragging it’s weird,’ he said.

‘It’s something I’m still processing now.

‘The diehard Santorinians are still there, but if you have kids you have a different level of fear.’  

Nicoletta Barbata, a photographer and writer who runs the One Quarter Greek brand, used to live in Santorini before moving to nearby Syros island in the Aegean, where mild tremors have been felt. 

Nicoletta, who previously lived in London, told Metro that while the global headlines have been about Santorini, other islands have also been feeling the impact of the repeated earthquakes

‘All eyes are on Santorini given its popularity but the earthquakes are also affecting smaller islands such as Anafi, Ios, Amorgos and Iraklia,’ she said.

‘These islands have fewer boat connections all year round, a couple of ferries per week, no airport, small communities, one doctor for the whole island and no hospitals.

‘Since I lived in Anafi for two years, I know how it is to feel kind of forgotten by the rest of the world. 

‘Usually you get away with it as it’s part of your challenging daily life. 

‘In such situations as the present, it’s probably more frightening to have this feeling of being cut out than the fear itself of the earthquakes, plus the psychological tension of being on alert 24/7.’

Mickey and Kostas spoke shortly before the Greek authorities announced a state of emergency on Santorini.

The measures will be in place until March 3 to ‘address the emergency needs and manage the consequences’, officials said.

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