ATHENS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Greek government introduced an initial set of measures on Tuesday to support businesses on Santorini, which has been experiencing hundreds of earthquakes for a third consecutive week.
The emergency measures allow employers to suspend employee contracts from Feb. 1 to March 3, while affected employees will receive a state subsidy of 534 euros (553.29 U.S. dollars), the Labor Ministry announced.
Meanwhile, Tourism Ministry officials held meetings with industry stakeholders to draft a plan addressing the potential impact of the seismic activity on arrivals to the popular tourist destination. With the tourism season set to begin in March, Santorini, which is home to about 20,000 permanent residents, welcomes around 3 million visitors annually out of Greece's more than 30 million total arrivals.
So far, local officials have not reported a wave of cancellations, though seismologists warn the seismic activity may persist until Easter or beyond.
According to local authorities, more than 11,000 residents and tourists left Santorini within the first ten days of the tremors, while those remaining continue to stay on high alert. Emergency teams and experts have been dispatched from Athens, and schools on Santorini and nearby Anafi island remain closed for a second week until at least Friday.
Greek experts reported Tuesday that over 14,000 quakes had been recorded since Jan. 26, with epicenters primarily located in the Aegean Sea between the two islands.
The strongest quake so far, which struck on Monday and was felt as far away as Athens - over 300 km away - measured 5.3 on the Richter scale. However, seismologists remain uncertain whether this was the main event in the earthquake swarm or if a stronger quake may follow. (1 euro = 1.04 U.S. dollars)
