Cephalonians of America are in constant contact with their relatives after two large scale earthquakes hit the island. They are anxiously tuning into news updates and following the estimates and predictions of seismologists. Many of them who lived through the same ordeal in 1953 say that the two incidents are similar.
The Board of Directors of the Cephalonia and Ithaca Association, “Odysseus” and the Cephalonian Brotherhood of New York will meet in order to examine ways to assist island residents. Gerasimos Patrikios, Secretary of the Cephalonian Association “Kefalos” stressed that they are keeping up with any new developments and they are planning to meet as well. “We will try to unite all Cephalonian bodies in order to organize our actions together,” he said.
Cephalonian Brotherhood of New York president, Andreas Latos, mentioned that during their meeting they would discuss helping the Greek island and organizing a fundraiser.
President of the Greek Association, professor Costas Efthimiou, who comes from the island of Cephalonia, Greece, said: “The island is under constant vigilance because of the earthquake threat. We all need to support them any way we can. From what we see everyone is rushing to help. I think the Greek society is strong, there is solidarity,” said the professor.
Gerasimos Patrikios who originated from the north part of the island said his village wasn’t affected as much. “We are in constant contact with members and executives of all the associations. This time we decided to do something together as a pose to individually,” he said.
Spyros Pyrgiotis, consultant of the Cephalonian Association “Kefalos” said: “The port was blocked because the dock in Lixouri was destroyed. My relatives in the village are well, but we all fear the aftershocks. We cannot describe how anxious we are. I stayed up all night because there was no communication and I could not talk to my family on the island,” he added. As far as aid is concerned, he stated “we are in contact with the mayor and local authorities. We will help.”
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
