Gerasimos Papadopoulos: Greece’s preparation if a tsunami hits its shores

For the possibility of a large earthquake that could cause a tsunami in the coastal areas, the Mediterranean countries cooperate with a more likely scenario to start from Greece.

Greece has the highest seismicity in the entire Mediterranean, along the famous Hellenic Arc – it starts from the Ionian Islands, crosses the bottom of the South Ionian Sea outside the Peloponnese and, passing south of Crete, ends in Rhodes – and for this there is absolutely the possibility of tsunami generation after a strong underwater or coastal earthquake. Due to the rarity of the phenomenon, for many years there was confusion regarding the preparation to deal with it, however, now both at the national and international level, through the participation of Greece in the Intergovernmental Coordination Group of UNESCO, standardized protocols have been drawn up direct actions, while readiness exercises and citizens’ training actions are carried out.

In fact, as research seismologist and UNESCO scientific partner Dr. Gerasimos Papadopoulos explained, in an interview he gave to the Athens/Macedonian News Agency, on the sidelines of the conference on New Technologies in Civil Protection “SafeThessaloniki 2022”, in the 7 Richter earthquake on October 30, 2020, in Samos, for the first time at the European level, the Emergency Communications Service was activated (Citizens Alert System Notifications via 112) and today the national center that monitors and warns the State about the tsunami risk is mobilized based on a strict protocol, the which foresees specific actions within a time interval of up to 10 minutes from the recording of the seismic vibration.

“The “red” seismic areas in Greece”

Regarding the seismic areas in Greece and the coasts where the risk of tsunami generation is higher, the seismologist clarified: “Across the Mediterranean we have, along the Greek Arc, the highest seismicity, which is also underwater, so it goes without saying and we also know from the scientific data, that exactly there we have the greatest risk for the production of a tsunami. The tsunami spreads very quickly, does not “extinguish” easily and threatens coastal areas over long distances, this is the peculiarity of the phenomenon. Then we have another very high risk area, the Gulf of Corinth. It also has very high seismicity, but with the difference that it is a closed gulf and cannot, even a large tsunami, go out and threaten other areas. Then, we have less risk in areas such as the Dodecanese and in general the Eastern Aegean, Lesvos, Chios”.

Less likely, based on the seismicity data, is the possibility that a tsunami that will start from other Mediterranean countries will reach Greece. In contrast, other countries such as Israel and Italy are systematically preparing for a tsunami that could start from the Greek Arc.

From neighboring countries we are little threatened by Italy. There is no record of a large earthquake that caused a tsunami that came to our side. They do not have as high a seismicity as us, nevertheless in our scenarios we take this possibility into account. On the contrary, in Italy they are very afraid of tsunamis that may start from Greece and have done a lot of research on this issue. So are the Israelis. We have done joint exercises with the Israelis, they are very afraid of tsunamis that can be created for example along Crete, or Rhodes and in 45 minutes, at the most in an hour, they will have reached Israel”, pointed out Mr. Papadopoulos .

“In the Mediterranean, a large tsunami can hit 10-15 countries”

Can we be prepared for the possible generation of a tsunami after a strong undersea or coastal earthquake? “Of course we can”, answered Mr. Papadopoulos, noting that in the preparation of the Greek State and the Mediterranean countries as a whole, through the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System in the North-East Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the connected seas (ICG/NEAMTWS) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO), the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami and the enormous human losses and disasters in the 14 countries it affected played a decisive role.

“For the tsunami, we took very important steps, precisely because there was a requirement for the cooperation of the states. We are lagging behind, despite advances in technological systems, in interoperability, that is, in how services work together. Tsunami has no borders. In the Mediterranean a large tsunami can hit 10-15 countries. This means that countries must cooperate with each other. Many times they are at war, or they don’t have good relations, sometimes they don’t have the same technological level, they don’t have the same cultural level, so we needed a catalyst to bring the countries together, and that is UNESCO”, pointed out Mr. Papadopoulos.

Today the Tsunami Service Providers (TSPs) of the ICG/NEAMTWS Group are technically supported by five national centres, those in Portugal, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey. A major challenge is to ensure fast and reliable transmissions of tsunami warnings, which according to the protocols agreed at UNESCO, the five centers send in three ways simultaneously (email, fax and GTS) and then the civil protection services must use equally reliable systems, to get the message down.

“The international vanguard of Greece”

The five centers of the ICG/NEAMTWS Group cooperate with each other and specific action protocols have been drawn up, from which no one can deviate. “As soon as an earthquake is suspected of generating a tsunami, i.e. magnitude greater than 6, underwater and surface, a tsunami warning message is immediately organized. The observatories of Athens, Rome, etc. they send their country’s Civil Protection within 8 to 10 minutes that message and Civil Protection looks at how it goes down to the threatened areas. For many years there was a confusion on this issue, namely what we can do practically, given that especially here in the Mediterranean the margin of reaction to protect the general population is very limited, often only a few minutes”, noted Mr. Papadopoulos.

He also noted that in February 2020, when he was invited to the debate in the competent committee of the Parliament on the new civil protection law, which was passed and is now in force, he had raised the issue of the preparation of the Greek state for the possibility of a tsunami: “Pay attention this, once the country will need it. Then we must be ready”, he had said in his intervention and a few months later, in October 2020, in the great earthquake of Samos “for the first time not only in Greece, but overall in the European area and in the Mediterranean, 112 was used”.

“I consider it a very important step despite the disadvantages observed. We Greeks pioneered this, there is a way to improve the system even more – I am sure – so that the scientific and technological progress that enables us to send the warning within 10 minutes, becomes even better from an operational point of view now”, he added .

“When citizens should not wait for 112 and immediate evacuation is required”

Coastal areas near the epicenter of the earthquake are at more immediate risk in the event of a tsunami. There, those who are close to coasts and feel the earthquake should move away immediately, without waiting for any kind of information and therefore should be prepared to do so, through educational actions, in high risk areas.

“The most difficult case generally concerns the coastal areas that are closer to the focus of the earthquake that produces the tsunami. We saw this in Samos in 2020. In North Samos the first wave arrived in only 4 minutes. How do we know that? We didn’t have instruments but videos and we used them for the first time in our relevant study. They were recorded by reliable cameras. In four minutes the waves arrived. There, unfortunately, I don’t think the system has time to give a warning. This is where what is called information, information and education of the population intervenes. The basic directive says: “As soon as you feel an earthquake in a coastal area, you immediately move inland. You don’t have time to hear a warning, you don’t wait to get a message from 112, or to be informed by the media what exactly is happening. Immediately, instantly, because the wave it arrives in a flash.” This is very important and requires a lot of effort in another area, training, education, information. He wants the training of the executives themselves, the bodies and the services”, explained Mr. Papadopoulos.

As he clarified, in Samos, after the experience of 2020, the two municipalities proceeded with a series of actions: “They commissioned a study at the University of Athens – we participated and contributed too – on the risk of the earthquake and tsunami, where the degree of risk was mapped for the first time on the coastlines of the island. It is not the same everywhere, it also depends on the morphology of the coasts. For example, is a coastal zone structured, is the topography flat, and can a potential tsunami very easily travel inland? Are there steep slopes so not conducive to Tsunami climbing? All this was taken into account and a mapping of the coast of the island was given for the first time. Also, the Municipality of Samos has already made some efforts to provide more information to the population on this issue, as has been done on other islands, in Rhodes, Kos, Crete, where we have also conducted exercises. Globally, the UN has since 2016 established November 5 of each year as Tsunami Awareness Day. Efforts continue and intensify.”

RES-EMP

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