How earthquakes and floods change the relief of Thessaly

Important scientific announcements were made in a two – day conference by Dr. Athanasios Ghana, geologist-seismologist, director of research at the Geodynamic Institute of the National Observatory of Athens, both for the extent of changes in the terrain of Thessaly after the major earthquakes of March 2021, and for the extent of flooded areas by ESA satellites (European Space Agency ) after the passage of the Mediterranean cyclone IANOS. The Pindos network and the municipality of Mouzaki held in Mouzaki on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 June 2022, the two-day conference on: “Natural disasters – IANOS – Dealing with them”.

Co-organizers were also the Polytechnic School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Hellenic Network of Municipalities with Rivers, as well as the two-day event was held under the auspices of the Central Union of Greek Municipalities (KEDE).

The aim of the two-day meeting was to highlight the problems caused by Cyclone IANO, to discuss the course of disaster recovery and to propose additional effective measures for the prevention, management and response to natural disasters.

In particular, Mr Ghanas, According to the data presented to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, it showed the extent of the changes in the terrain of Thessaly after the great earthquakes of March 2021 using satellite radar images from the Copernicus program of the European Union and measurements of micro-movements with geodetic stations. (GNSS – Global Navigation Satellite System). With satellite radar images, it was found, as he emphasizes in APE-MPE, that the ground near Damasi Tyrnavou suffered permanent subsidence up to 36 cm while the distance Zarkos Trikala – Damasiou increased by 14 cm. The permanent changes resulted from the movement of pieces of the crust due to the three surface earthquakes on three different faults in a NW-SE direction.

In addition, Dr. Ghana showed her extent of flooded areasby ESA (European Space Agency) satellites after the passage of the Mediterranean cyclone IANOS in September 2020. The total area of ​​floods in Western Thessaly amounted, according to him, to 475,000 acres and affected most of the Karditsa plain and of Farsala, while floods were recorded in areas of the prefecture of Trikala (Megala Kalivia, Farkadona and Pineiada). Using satellite images from the Sentinel-2 satellite, the landslides of IANOS were captured. The capture was done by image processing and detection of changes in land cover. 1,700 landslides were measured in the mountainous area west of Mouzaki and on either side of Lake Plastira (Argithea area). Many of these landslides were verified in the field with site visits by a team of scientists (geologists and engineers). The presentations as a whole were extremely interesting from personalities of the scientific community, academics, senior executives and local government officials.

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