The village Voutes by Heraklio, Crete, has been declared in State of Emergency as the phenomenon of cracks in roads and house walls continued also on Monday. The state of emergency will be in force for one month.
Experts inspecting the area have reportedly classified nine houses as “yellow” that is being at moderate risk and recommended their evacuation.
According to first estimates, the phenomenon is related to ground ruptures about 150 meters long, probably caused by a water pipe line burst or high accumulation of liquefaction in the soil.
Efthimios Lekkas, head of the National Earthquake Planning & Protection and chairman of the Permanent Special Scientific Committee for Earthquake Risk Assessment, who has been carrying out inspections in Voutes since Sunday evening said that “two rifts are visible and have caused damage to homes, the church, the playground and networks in the area.”
Lekkas stressed “it is important to see what we will do from now on. I believe that in three to four hours we will have the data of the impressions that the scientific crews are doing in the area so that we can see where the phenomenon is caused. That is, whether it is due to a major landslide or a tectonic breakthrough, a tectonic line, a liquefaction, etc.”
In the area, however, the last 24 hours have created an uproar among residents, with some citizens noting that although they heard some noises, they did not realize from the beginning that these cracks were being created.
One local woman said to a TV channel that she heard the first noises inside the walls last Wednesday, April 23.
Lekkas added that monitoring will continue in the area and that it is particularly important to observe the next measurements in order to identify possible deformations, after the recording by drones and high-definition systems.
Other experts pointed to the area’s topography and soil composition as key factors behind the phenomenon, saying the cracks are the result of rotational landslides and their risk increases due to clay-rich geological composition.
See more pictures and info in KTG’s post: Mysterious cracks tear apart roads and houses in Cretan village