Tuesday 17 November 2015
First day back from our holidays, and we were rudely awakened at 0910 by a minute-long 6.5 magnitude earthquake, centred just off the west coast of Lefkada. We later found out that Vassiliki was hard hit, two people died in rockfalls and the west coast beach of Egremni disappeared in a landslide.
We were badly shaken, but nothing broke, and all the plaster stayed on, suffering only a hairline crack in one place.
Before we went away, I had made a temporary door of wood and polythene for the south front. I didn't have hinges, so I put it in with wedges, so it could be removed easily when we were working there. It fell out. When the first aftershock hit, it fell out again. As the shocks kept coming, it kept falling out, becoming our quake indicator.
The shocks continue, at time of writing, for 10 days. But we didn't know that at the time. So having been sensible (and tired) on Tuesday, we stayed off ladders and scaffolding, but on day two, we reckoned it would be okay to carry on plastering. There were two sharp aftershocks while I was up the scaffolding: luckily I had rafters to hang on to.
First day back from our holidays, and we were rudely awakened at 0910 by a minute-long 6.5 magnitude earthquake, centred just off the west coast of Lefkada. We later found out that Vassiliki was hard hit, two people died in rockfalls and the west coast beach of Egremni disappeared in a landslide.
We were badly shaken, but nothing broke, and all the plaster stayed on, suffering only a hairline crack in one place.
Before we went away, I had made a temporary door of wood and polythene for the south front. I didn't have hinges, so I put it in with wedges, so it could be removed easily when we were working there. It fell out. When the first aftershock hit, it fell out again. As the shocks kept coming, it kept falling out, becoming our quake indicator.
The shocks continue, at time of writing, for 10 days. But we didn't know that at the time. So having been sensible (and tired) on Tuesday, we stayed off ladders and scaffolding, but on day two, we reckoned it would be okay to carry on plastering. There were two sharp aftershocks while I was up the scaffolding: luckily I had rafters to hang on to.
The quake door in action
Dave checking for cracks
No ladders on day one, so I built us a front door - complete with cat flap
Day two after the quake, assuming it was all over ...
Dave installed the front door lintel, the other half of the south door one.
First coat complete on the south wall. From a distance, we can start to see how the house will look when it's finished.
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