State of emergency called on Lefkada as island is hit by aftershocks

As state engineers on Wednesday sought to assess the damage wreaked by Tuesday’s 6.1-Richter earthquake on Lefkada, which killed two people, a series of aftershocks, the strongest of which measured 5.1 on the Richter scale, rattled the island again.

The general secretary for civil protection at the Interior Ministry, Yiannis Kapakis, on Wednesday declared the island in a state of emergency.

According to the mayor of Lefkada, Constantinos Drakontaeidis, the quake has wreaked widespread damage to the local road network and several buildings, chiefly older structures.

As a precautionary measure, all schools were closed Wednesday and are to remain shut on Thursday. The island’s main hospital was briefly evacuated Wednesday following the aftershocks.