The footage was shared in the wake of a high-magnitude earthquake hitting the popular Greek holiday island of Crete, occurring just days after a similar seismic event hit the area
CCTV footage shortly before an earthquake in Crete shows a cat appearing to ‘sense’ tremors just moments beforehand, running to safety as its surroundings began to shake. The video was recorded on Thursday morning, May 22, at the Mirabello Lakes in Lasithi, where the animal can be seen behaving nervously, implying they may be aware that something is not quite right.
The cat is spotted casually wandering across a patio in the clip before stopping in its tracks and fleeing the scene, running across the road shortly before shaking began. The footage was shared on Facebook this morning, with one admirer of the feline commenting: “Just amazing how animals can tell before it happens.”
The earthquake and tsunami warning has caused tourists on the popular holiday island to be asked by seismologists to ‘move away from the coast and reach a higher place’, with a magnitude 6.1 earthquake being recorded this morning.
Images from a high street in Heraklion on the island show a police cordon in place with rubble strewn across the road after the facade of a building partially collapsed.
Several smaller roads have been closed in the area due to landslips following the earthquake, local firefighters have said. One of the affected routes is between Myrtos and Tertsa, which has reportedly caused major traffic disruption this morning. Chaotic images from the island also showed one of its major supermarkets with items scattered across its aisles.
Greece’s Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said he was aware of reports from Crete residents of objects falling inside their homes during the tremors earlier this morning. He added that no hospitals on the island had been damaged as a result of the quake.
He wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “We had no damage at all to the health units of Crete from the strong morning earthquake.”
British holidaymakers have taken to social media to share their experiences of the event, with some tourists claiming they were woken up by the tremors and have been ‘too scared to sleep’ ever since.
One wrote on social media: “I’m in Heraklion and our room shook, grabbed my toddler. we are all anxious now.”
Another said: “So glad you’re panicking too. Everyone at my hotel is so calm and I’ve freaking since this morning.”
The epicentre of the earthquake was located 56 kilometers (34 miles) northeast of Neapolis, Lassithi, Crete, while the focal depth was estimated at 60 kilometres (37 miles).
The tremors have reportedly been felt as far as Turkey, Egypt and Israel, as authorities have warned individuals to prepare themselves for possible aftershocks. The incident comes after a powerful 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck near the coast of Crete last week.
The mayor of Agios Nikolaos, Manolis Menegakis, told Mega TV station: “We are vigilant.”
The Greece and the Aegean islands are known to be more susceptible to earthquakes due to the country being based at the boundary of the Eurasian and African tectonic plates.