On our way home from Cyprus a couple of weeks ago, my wife and I stopped off in Rhodes in Greece for a few days.

We hadn’t been there before and as there is a direct flight to Cork from that part of the world, we decided to give it a bash.

We booked a small hotel in Faliraki, right in the heart of the town and it was very pleasant. Similar in many ways to Cyprus so were very much at home. Nice weather, friendly people, heat on the bones, and a beach nearby, what’s not to like?

Well, how about an earthquake?

On Monday evening, June 2, we went out for a meal and a few drinks on a balmy night. We got back to the hotel early and hit the hay about 10.30pm. Not a care in the world.

That all changed at about 2.20am when we woke from a deep sleep to a thunderous noise. The building was vibrating. The windows and doors were rattling, and the bed was shaking.

My immediate thought was that part of the building had collapsed, or something had crashed onto the roof. I was totally disoriented

My phone was on the bedside locker, and it was sounding an alarm. The screen had turned red and when I picked it up, I saw the word ‘Earthquake flashing across it, and that was when I realised what was........

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