I remember on the day of the earthquake of 1948

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March 10, 2009

The earthquake of 1948 

I remember on the day of the earthquake of 1948, we had returned home from high school. It was afternoon and I was looking after my two year old brother Yannis (John) while my mother was cooking. At that moment as we danced while playing, I felt the entire house dancing along with us. Immediately my mother and my other brothers and sisters ran outside as fast as we could because we were on the second floor of our house. I ran with my brother in my arms. The house appeared to me as tall as it was that from moment to moment it would crumble.

After it was all over, many people terrified had gathered at the Scala (by the harbor), there they talked about what they went through during the earthquake. The custom officer's wife turned pale in fear and fainted. At that moment turning towards Vaggelistra (the church of the Annunciation of the Theotokos) I noticed the coral reefs being exposed more and more and the whole area was getting darker as the sea was receding. Terrified I shouted, "Look the seawater is disappearing!" Immediately someone came running from the harbor and shouted for all of us run up to the mountain.

As soon as we reached Maroukla Halkia's house the tidal wave began rushing toward land. From her courtyard we watched as the wave rushed inland for what seemed like all day. The aftershocks from the earthquakes did not stop all afternoon and late in the evening. In the meantime we could see our house being struck ferociously by the waves as the wall slowly crumbled. We were never to inhabit our house again. The water covered the basement and went as high as two meters. From our high vantage point we saw the fishing boats fighting with the waves and the whole harbor filled with debris.

As the waves went back and forth it started loosing its strength. In one area close to the Despotiko nisi (small rocky island) the seawater was very foamy as if it rushed out from within the sea. In later years, they say that at that particular point an Italian ship's anchor chain was cut and consequently killed two sailors. Its anchor was lost and was never recovered since. My father, who was a merchant marine captain, told me that there was a fault because of the earthquake of 1948 at that spot.