Sorry not to sound sympathetic but anyone who reads a guide book will know that all of Greece is in an earthquake zone and has tremors regularly. A lot of Zakynthos was destroyed in an earthquake in 1953.

We have experienced several tremors in our many Greek holidays, most of them relatively minor, and as you say, the locals just get on with it - it is a fact of life for them. Coincidentaly the strongest we felt was in Zakynthos where I was woken on my birthday in '98 by a 5.2 - yes it was a little scarey at the time but it hasn't put me off going to Greece. Most buildings are now built with earthquakes in mind and as you don't mention any damage, I imagine stood up quite well, so no need for panic or evacuations.

If we worried all the time about rare events such as natural distasters, terrorists, not to mention traffic accidents, we wouldn't leave our house!

sorry i forgot to mention damage, there was only slight damage around the resort that we could see.
the quake you went through at 5.2 was just a little rumble, we had them during the 5 days, but every 0.1 is double the force of the last so a 6.3 was a big one. the roads rippled, people were trying to hold on to anything they could to try and keep standing, even the locals were scared. the building done its job but if you saw the way the pillers swayed it was frightening. we had relations on the 3rd floor and they said the room swayed so much they could of pinched dinner from the hotel next door.
my only complaint is with the tour operators, no information or advice, they could not be bothered

I know the eartquake you had was a lot greater in strength and must have been frightening - but as you say, there was little damage. You find out how good your tour operator is (or isn't) when you have a problem - just look at those poor people stuck out in Mexico.

sorry to hear about your frightning stay in Lagana I like you never knew about these tremours and quakes i knew they had one a very long time ago which nearly destroyed zante, I have been to Zante twice before and never experienced anything like that at all. I`m going to Lagana next year hope nothing happens then. Tell your wife i hope she starts feeling better about the whole experience.Also I asked my family who go to greece (different parts every year) and they`ve never heard anything either!!!!!.

The history of earthquakes in Greece is well documented, most of the towns and villages on Cephalonia were destroyed in the 1953 quake. Although I'm sure this must be a terryfying experience you cant really blame the tour operators and I expect the reps were as scared as you.

Greece, Turkey and Italy are all on fault lines and have frequent tremors and larger earthquakes from time to time. Unfortunately predicting a "big one" is almost impossible.

as a personal point it amazes me when people who book holidays to known regions of earthquake/hurricane seasons and even winter in say Cyprus or Greece (then expect summer weather) then complain about the tour operator, if you have INTERNET access then read up on the country/history/weather then you may be prepared

my own views
wizard

I was staying in argassi last week when the earthquakes happened. Not only was I terrirfied, I was also concerned for my two children and my elderly mother. It was gut wrenching to see my daughter crying with fright. Although the hotel staff were fantastic and informative as they could be, it would have been nice if the rep could have given us more information, about what to do etc.A couple I spoke to on the flight home were coming home 5 days early as their hotel had burst pipes due to the quake, the rep would not put them in a different hotel, even though our hotel was half empty and they were also quoted 700 euro for flights home. Talk about cashing in on other peoples distress and ruined holiday.

Apperently the schools on the island were also told to take the day off on wednesday, I wonder why??????

I have never been so pleased to get home, and it has certainly put me off holidaying in greece again., which is a shame because it is such a beautiful, hospitible place.

I have to endorse The Wizards comments. Nobody would travel anywhere if everything that might occur was described in graphic detail at the time of booking.

Have a look at the link at the bottom of this page "Map of 40 years of seismicity in the Euro-Med region" - you can't see Greece an Turkey for the dots:

http://www.emsc-csem.org/

- but keep it in perspective. A major earthquake is a rare event, you are more likely to be run down by a bus. Buildings in Greece are built to standards to survive most tremors you are likely to encounter.

we did not know like all the other guests in our hotel that the island suffered from tremors/quakes. i am not blaming the tour operator for the quake i am just angry that they would not give us any information or support. our rep tried to tell us the quake was nowhere near the island but then slipped up by saying he was on airport duty when it struck. he went on to tell us that the worst he has felt was when the table shakes and only lasted seconds.
jackie15 i hope that your children,mother and yourself are ok, like you i was concerned for the children in our hotel, when they see adults crying and so scared its frightening. your are right about the local schools being closed the following day and the reason why is that they had been expecting a big quake and thought the ones on tuesday were a build up to the big one.

To those people that were out in Zakynthos and didn't realise that the area suffers from earthquakes and were therefore frightened, I hope you all get over the experience quickly

I would like to say that all the times I have been in Zakynthos and other areas of Greece I have unfortunately never encountered any tremors
This may sound a bit strange, but I have actually been wanting to experience a tremor / earthquake and I would also love to do a Tornado hunting holiday in the USA

In 25 years of going to Rhodes I have experienced 3 'quakes, one of which was more than 5, don't remember exactly. Quite alarming as we were on the 6th. floor of a hotel for that one! All guide books will tell you about the region, including the fact that there is seismic activity and as the other posters have said , the buildings are erected with this in mind.

Hi Malcb
I do understand your concerns and worries that you had during your holiday especially as recent devastating events around the world show just how much dammage and loss of life an earthquake can cause. But they are well documented for Greece and the islands not only on paper and on the web but all over the islands you can see cliffs with huge folds in the strata where they have been folded by historical seismic activity.

One of the reasons you are advised to drink bottled water is because of the increased levels of minerals and concentrations of certain gases in the natural springwater on the island caused by volcanic activity (not just because of the water storage in tanks)

You can look at this event and it was an event not just a tremor or minor earthquake from many angles.

You were lucky to be there to experience the power of an earthquake and i've slept through quite a few only to woken by the barking dogs after the small tremor.
You were lucky that the earthquakes were out in the Laganas Bay area and not inland under Laganas.
And because of the seismic history of the region properties are built to withstand events like this.

Greece Ionian Seismic history
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_elau_h.html

So where do you holiday that's safe from earthquakes ?

I've been interested in seismic events for a few years and receive all the notifications from around the mediteranean area. Just last year Southern Spain very close to Marbella, Malaga was very lucky when several large earthquakes happened along a fault near the Strait of Gibralter followed by several smaller aftershocks inland in Andalucia. And Morocco last year had quite a few which were larger than those on the oposite coastline to Spain causing loss of life and dammage.

Strait of Gibraltar seismic history
http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_def6_h.html

September 19 2005 just last week Morocco.
http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_def6.html

paul..

we had booked to go to tenerife the first week in october but my sister in law wanted us to go away with her and her husband to zante, wish i said no now.
my sister in law found the holiday on the first choice web site, they have a section that gives you info on the area of your holiday there is no mention of tremors. she also checked the hotel on sites like this one and still no mention of tremors. we were going on what other people had told us of the island, all we wanted was a nice relaxing holiday.
its something that i will never forget, the noise was the worse i still jump when there is a loud bang or rumble noise outside

Malch
the Canaries are also on a fault line hence the black sand on some of the islands from the volcano's

we knew about the Canaries from watching the holiday tv channels, but when you watch about greece on these channels there is no mention of the islands being on a fault line.
if a volcano goes off in the Canaries at least you get some chance and time to get off the island,with an earthquake you get no chance. at the end of the day its the fear of the unknown and how powerful the earch can be.

tenerife island is pretty much a volcano. mount tiede. Tenerife in the past year or 2 has been experiencing volcanic activity. How do i know that? internet

as the others said, no matter where you go in greece, canaries etc you always run the risk of natural disasters such as earthquakes. it is nor up to the TO to tell you about geography that im afraid is up to you.

yes the TO should have helped and calmed you but I suspect the reps have seen it all before. I tend to go DIY holidays now as reps just dont seem to benefit me.

dont let this put you off holidays abroad. I mean if you think you got it bad look at all those people in pakistan who have lost everything due to the earthquakes

malcb, you must have missed the holiday programmes regarding Kos, Santorini, Nyssyros, Kefalonia, Zante and even Rhodes to name but a few. They almost always mention the fact that the islands are formed because of earthquake/volcanic activity.
Zante in particular gets a mention for having been almost totally destroyed in 1953 by an earthquake. Kos for the fact that you can swim in the sea and experience the bubbles of sulphur gasses rising to the surface from a volcanic fault line. Fault lines usually mean earthquake risk as well as volcano.
The Island Hoppers Guide to the greek islands documents the fact that Greece is hit by a strong earthquake around every 50 years.
Consider that Zante had a major one in '53 and that was 52 years ago.