The support and sympathy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the earthquake victims of Smyrna and Samos, but also neighboring areas, which were hit by the strong earthquake that occurred today north of Samos,…….. expresses the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who contacted earlier the metropolitans of Samos and Ikaria Eusebius and Smyrna Bartholomew.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate, these difficult times of ordeal for the two neighboring peoples of Turkey and Greece, prays for the rest of the souls of our fellow human beings who lost their lives, to restore the health of the injured and relieve all those affected. Our Lord wishes to strengthen the competent state and local authorities in their work, and especially the rescue teams in Smyrna, who are struggling to locate and rescue people trapped in collapsed buildings.