Earthquake activity in
September:
Although the main reports here refer to Greece, following the
devastating Haiti earthquake in January, February brought a second devastation, this time to Chile
(Read
wikipedia Summary).
March brought a third 'quake, this
time with a magnitude of 6.0 Richter to the Basyurt area of eastern Turkey,
killing 42 villagers and injuring at least 60 on March 8th -
USGS report.
But there were no earthquakes of note in Greece
in September.
Although earthquakes most certainly are a common feature of life in Greece.
It is however, unusual for deaths, injuries and or damage to buildings to occur,
which could lead to a false sense of security.
The author of a ten year study at the National Technical University of
Athens says that Greece is sitting waiting for the next major
earthquake without doing anything to mitigate it's effects. (Our italics).
Link to Report.
There are certain existing buildings considered to be at risk from major
earthquakes. Link
to story. These buildings, which include a number of schools, are being
investigated with the objective of safety.
Link to story. Engineers have also called upon the government to
institute checks on old bridges in Greece.
Link
(Item6.)
_______________________________
A Little Extra News....
As regular readers of this column will by now know - the news being, in my
hands, usually late - I am back in the editors chair! Ann and Richard have
returned to their normally hectic own village life in north western Crete,
taking with them my very sincere thanks for a superb job, superbly done. But
I really can't understand how they manage to do everything when it should be
done. Will they one day be late, like me, I wonder...
I was also wondering just what extra news I would be able to offer, but I
quickly found out when I saw the pile of mostly Cretan news. Too much for the
regular column above. And not all of it was good. Commencing with the
Turkish passenger ferry collision at the port on the island of Kos, Greece -
in which Britons may have been injured. The Turkish flagged 'Aegean Cat'
catamaran with 20 passengers, mostly British, when it was in collision with
a jetty (twice). It was chartered for a day trip from Didim in Turkey.
Link.
Back in Chania the bomb squad defused an explosive device place outside a
cafe on Saturday morning (Sept 18th)
Link to Story
(item
2). While Iraklio police arrested 6 Albanian nationals, resident in Greece
for several years, who are believed to be the core group of a gang
responsible for a string of robberies on Crete.
Link to Story
(item
6).
Chania police arrested two Albanian nationals on Sept 28th suspected of
being members of a local drug dealing ring - cannabis, heroin, and a 22mm
pistol were found after searches of their homes.
Link to Story
(item
5).
Rape charges were brought against three British men - again in the resort of
Malia - after a female compatriot alleged that they had tried to rape her on
Sunday (26th Sept).
Link to Story
(item
5). Whilst the very next report on the same link (item 6) was about a Syrian
man who died in Iraklio Hospital on the 27th Sept after being beaten by
unknown assailants...
Meanwhile Iraklio police were
questioning a 42-year-old man suspected of a hold-up at a kiosk in the
village of Voutes - using a pair of garden shears!
Link to Story
(item
5).
And, Rethymno coastguards found that they had a stolen yacht on their hands,
taken from the
mainland port of Rafina in August, when it suffered engine trouble off Crete.
The Turkish crew claimed to have purchased the vessel from a fellow Turk and
that they were on their were on the way to Tunisia when they had engine problems. They
were towed into port at Souda Bay.
Link to Story
(item
4).
Anyone reading the news items this month could well be forgiven for
believing Crete to be an island of undesirables. Rogues and criminals, bent
on gaining as much as possible from apparently senseless activities such as
robberies, drug dealing, playing with guns and explosives - varied with the
occasional variation into kidnapping, actual bodily harm, attempted and
actual murder. Violent to the core.
The truth of the matter is that the Cretan people are amongst the most
friendly and likeable people in the world. Perhaps a little restless, often
a little mercurial by nature, but dependable and generous to a fault. When
family and other feuds do exist, and sometime develop into vendetta, it is
probably because they have been made to feel so strongly let down by someone
they trusted. Such feuds rarely involve non-Cretans - to whom the extension
of hospitality is more often than not a matter of honour.
A look then, at where the violence is
arising readily indicates that most crime is committed by non-Cretans. Even
British holiday-makers, albeit mostly the younger ones, make a not
insignificant contribution to Cretan crime statistics every year, although
most are probably the result of imbibing rather too much alcohol or drug
use. No different to the weekend night scene in Newcastle, Hull, or
Manchester or London (for example) city centers.
The real situation is that the serious violence, involving the use of
weapons - guns, explosives and the like, appear to be being carried out by
foreign nationals connected to organized crime. And it usually affects only
those actively involved.
Crete is still a land of the extended family and of filoxenia - hospitality
to strangers. Where almost any Cretan will extend a hand of friendship -
unless they have learned at some point that an extended hand is inviting
bite. The bad news we read involves but a tiny minority. If you don't
believe me come and see for yourself. Make some real friends in the
sunshine!
Kalos Ithate Stin Kriti.
WB. Cretanvista. Bringing the sunshine, keeping the rain off!
________________________________
Messages. We receive some brilliant
messages - really -
and they are very welcome. We will ALWAYS reply so
please, if you have sent a message and not received an answer - resend
the message - we either didn't get it or have somehow overlooked it.
Our response time is usually within 48 hours.
Personal Information.. We have
been asked in the past to help locate people. We would love to be able
to assist but regret that are unable to do this.
Questions and Answers.. Quite a lot of
questions are received here at Cretanvista and, as with e-mails
and other forms of communication, we do our best to supply valid
answers. We never respond "Off the Top of our Heads" but always
research the answer - even if we already have one (things change) before
passing the information on.
We provide links to appropriate alternative
sources where we have them. The answers are given with the proviso
that recipients are responsible for any action taken by them.
________________________________ |
Site Content:-
Notices. |
We are still undertaking our upgrade of the site.
Changes here have left some pages outdated - new houses; hotels;
supermarkets; roads and all. But it all takes time; please
bear with us.
Contacting Cretanvista..
We have now discontinued all direct email
links. You can still reach us directly using our
new
Contact
form, and will still receive direct replies,
but if you see an email address please ignore it. |
Photo
Galleries...
Calendar Photo Galleries:
A new one every year for the past decade! The 2010 Calendar
gallery is complete and online now.. The 2009 calendar topic was 'Wild
Flowers of Crete' (after our wild flower galleries) and the result was
superb! Which is why we followed up the theme in 2010. Because
of our success we have already produced our 2011 wild flower calendar format
(and our other themes continue). But we can reprint any issue with next
year's dates - whatever year that happens to be! Have a look at the 2010
wild flowers calendar Link.
Wild Flower Gallery -
Now at 240
different wild flower photographs
online -
plus dozens in preparation - Galleries 13 - 15 are not far from uploading...
We have added more
reference information on redesigned pages -
with more photos of each specimen to follow later. You may find an
occasional duplicate, which we are keeping for the moment as the
actual photographs will be different and will be used in a later
planned re-organization of the galleries.
We are now well en-route to putting the first 50% of our target 1020
individual flowers on-line. But it all takes time - first find the
flower (hopefully in full bloom); then get the photographs (sounds
easy); put the photographs on-line (simply work); with basic
information on each. If you know the location of a rare flower
please don't hesitate to help us photograph - we wont reveal your
information to anyone else.
Please note also that All
flower galleries have now been successfully re-coded to eliminate a
bug which affected some Firefox browser versions. All the information will remain
online at Cretanvista. With the advent of ipods, ipads, Blackberry's and other
gizmos it will be much easier to take Cretanvista galleries on your field trips - and
all the information that goes with them. |
Wildlife Gallery - the first two
pages - 48 unique photographs, including
some
rare specimens of
the Cretan fauna. Some is quite beautiful, some a bit scary/creepy, but
all now add to our wildlife page and the ornithology gallery pages.
Remember that it is always worth checking where you walk or sit before you do!
Start here.
Chania Photo Gallery.
Our Chania photograph galleries commenced with a presentation from Klaus
Dieter Thill, whose photographs of some old buildings in the area of the
Venetian Harbour show a little of what we all sometimes miss. Have a look -
it's worth it. Start here.
Miniature Chapels of Crete Gallery.
Klaus-Dieter Thill - author of
Minaturkapellen auf Krista,
a printed photo album detailing some of those enigmatic roadside shrines of
Crete, has now contributed the first page of his Chania on-line gallery.
Cretan Art and crafts - Weaving pages...
Weaving is in full swing and natural dyes are being made up and the
photographs taken to add to this section. We will be adding our
pages on our new looms, equipment and new projects started as soon as we
can. The weaving tends to take the time right now..
Our very first nature gallery...
Contributed by Anastasios Sakoulis, whose book on Cretan wildlife
Moments of Cretan Nature is
also on our site as a book review.
Anastasios contributed 18 pictures of birds for addition to a
gallery some time ago now. We will attach these to our bird-watching pages
as soon as possible.
GENERAL: There
are now 20 galleries featuring aspects
of Cretan life, including sunrise and sunset pictures; Souda Bay War
Cemetery; the gallery of magnificent wild-life pictures by Anastasios
Sakoulis; our own wildlife gallery; the wild flowers; Chania; Mhlia (Milia)
traditional village; etc.. etc...
Our improvements continue. We sincerely hope
that you notice little - apart from increased enjoyment and ease of use.
Keep visiting - your presence is what make all worthwhile.
________________________________
|
Living in Crete
by Carol Palioudakis
OUT NOW IN PAPERBACK!
Price £9.50 GBP
|
Amazon.co.uk & Selected Cretan bookstores |
________________________________
UK Nursing History - Schools of Nursing
Readers who have any
interest in the history of the UK nursing profession might well
be interested in looking at:-
www.schoolsofnursing.co.uk
There is a main site detailing every pre-university school of
nursing, the hospitals used for training and badge awarded.
A forum covering all aspects of nursing history
A 'National' nursing badge collection containing more than 2000
photographs.
Badges, nurses, hospitals et al
Web space for your own nursing related photographs.
*Membership is Free
*Membership is necessary to
use the forum and photograph Gallery areas.
Related Sites - also free.
'nursingbadges
historyofhospitals |
________________________________
|