Earthquakes in Evia: Residents recount a night of terror

Residents of northern Evia, Greece, endured a terrifying night as powerful earthquakes shook the region, reviving painful memories of previous seismic activity and further damaging homes and infrastructure already weakened by past tremors.

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Such an earthquake... There were two, but very strong, I couldn't even get out of bed. Where could I hold on? It was throwing me in the air.

Eugenia Spatharioti, a resident of Dafnoussa, recounted the harrowing experience, her voice trembling as she described the intense shaking. "Such an earthquake... There were two, but very strong, I couldn't even get out of bed. Where could I hold on? It was throwing me in the air," she told Orange Press Agency. She vividly recalled trees, beds, and her house itself swaying, fearing she would be crushed inside.

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I couldn't get out and I was screaming.

After the tremors subsided, Spatharioti found her house door jammed, trapping her inside. "I couldn't get out and I was screaming," she said, emphasizing her solitary existence in the home. Her son, Tasos, who was in Mantoudi during the earthquake, described it as the strongest he had felt in his 65 years.

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I was at home and I realized there was a very strong earthquake. I am 65 years old and I have not felt such a strong earthquake.

Tasos rushed to his mother's village to check on her and the house, which had been home to seven children. He noted that the house had previously sustained damage and received insufficient repairs. "The walls have all fallen now, as you saw," he reported, highlighting the urgent need to restore the home for his mother. "We want to fix the house for my mother most of all, so she doesn't have to see it like this because she is an old woman," he added.

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We want to fix the house for my mother most of all, so she doesn't have to see it like this because she is an old woman.