An Irishwoman has told of her terror when she was woken by a 5.8-magnitude earthquake yesterday.
Tourists Micaela Murray and her boyfriend Shane Livingstone were in their hotel room on Crete when the huge tremor hit.
At least one person was killed and 20 others were injured.
The 26-year-old, who lives in London, told the Irish Mirror: “I’ve never experienced anything like it before, the whole room was shaking.
"The ceiling has like bamboo in it and all that was rattling and I thought it was coming down.
“We jumped straight out of bed, I was screaming. We had no idea what was happening.
“Everything was just shaking and I thought the ceiling was going to come down. I never experienced an earthquake before so I had no idea that that’s what it was. I had no idea.”
“The shock is what scared me the most and not having any idea of what was happening.”
The quake sent people fleeing into the streets, while schools were evacuated.
Repeated aftershocks were rattling the area, and local media reported damage in villages near the epicentre.
Micaela’s dad rang her in “pure panic” after he had heard the news.
She explained: “He said; ‘How do we get you home. Will I come and get you?’”
“I was like how is he going to get me out from Crete?”
Micaela and Shane, who arrived on Friday, are due to leave the island today and hope their plans won’t be affected.
She added: “We’re really close to the water and our hotel is right on the beach. The waves have been really big today so I’m a bit concerned if it hits again a tsunami could come so there’s that feeling as well.
“We’re kind of trapped and have to stay in the hotel. We obviously hope there’s no more tremors and it’s kind of stopped but you just don’t know.”
Athens Geodynamic Institute seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos said: “This is not an event that occurred without warning. We have seen activity for several months.
“This was a strong earthquake, it was not under sea but under land and affecting populated areas.”
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre and the US Geological Survey gave a preliminary magnitude of 6.0, with an epicentre four miles (7km) north of the village of Thrapsano.
The Athens Geodynamic Institute said it was 5.8.
It is common for different seismological institutes to give varying magnitudes for an earthquake in the initial hours and days after an event.
Greece’s Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Ministry said one man had been killed.
He was pulled from the rubble of a partially collapsed church in the village of Arkalochori, very close to the epicentre.
