Florina: Back to everyday life after the 5.3 Richter earthquake – Checks on buildings

The residents of Florina are trying to return to the normal rhythms of their daily life, after the disturbance caused by the strong earthquake of 5.3 on the Richter scale, which hit the city last night. Many residents, fearing the aftershocks that followed, spent the night in their cars, while others went to their villages.

With the first light of day are visible the small damages that have suffered some old buildings but also apartment buildings, with falling plasters, which in some cases caused damage to parked cars.

In the early hours of the morning, the coordinating body of the Civil Protection of P.E. met extraordinarily. Florina, under the chairmanship of the Governor of Western Macedonia George Kasapidis and according to data that have become known from the autopsies of the presidents of the communities of the Police and Fire Brigade, no collapses were recorded, while the material damage -proportional to- the size of are not rated as significant. It was also officially clarified that no injuries were reported.

Giorgos Kasapidis stated that “with responsibility and cooperation we will deal with the natural phenomenon” and advised the citizens “to avoid points that are considered dangerous in the event of a new earthquake and to follow the instructions of the Civil Protection and the competent bodies of the local government”.

Ladders of the technical services of the municipalities of Amyntaio and Florina have taken over the service, with the aim of controlling all municipal buildings and school units, while employees from other Regional Units -Kozani and Grevena- with ladders of the Ministry of Infrastructure from Thessaloniki go, today, to Florina to participate in the control of the city buildings.

Last night, the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Christos Stylianidis, in the context of the coordination of the city’s bodies, talked with the Deputy Regional Governor of Florina Sotiris Vosdou and the Mayor Vassilis Giannakis, while the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Panas Plaques and with PPC officials for the possibility of landslides and damage inside the mines.

A rich post-earthquake sequence is expected, according to Geophysics professor K. Papazahos

The assessment that there will be a rich post-earthquake sequence and the decision to close the schools was correctly made, was made by the professor of Geophysics, president of the Department of Geology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Costas Papazachos.

In his statements to APE-MPE, Mr. Papazahos stated that the seismic sequence is in full swing and because the epicenter is very close to Florina, the earthquakes are particularly felt.

“The area is of low seismicity and has many faults that are completely unknown, as well as the specific one that gave yesterday’s earthquake and which is not mapped”, stressed the professor of AUTh.

It is reminded that the earthquake of 5.3 on the Richter scale occurred at 23:43 yesterday and after a decision of the mayors of Florina, Amyntaio and Prespa, the primary and secondary schools will remain closed today and the kindergartens in Kyria PE.

Lekkas: We will wait to see how it will develop in one to two 24 hours

The professor and president of OASP, Efthymios Lekkas, appeared relatively cautious regarding the development of last night’s earthquake of magnitude 5.4 on the Richter scale in Florina.

“It’s going great. We will wait to see how it will develop in one or two more 24 hours “, said Mr. Lekkas to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency.

The area has not had major earthquakes in the past, as Mr. Lekkas added, who clarified that the earthquake came from a fault on the outskirts of the Florina plain.

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