The professor of natural disaster management spoke about an extreme natural phenomenon of the millennium, Efthymios Lekkastalking to ERT about the bad weather Daniel.

“After this extreme natural phenomenon that was a millennium phenomenon and given that two millennium phenomena occurred within four years, we also had “Janus” three years ago, there is a general thought and reflection on how we will be able to structure the next day. Of course it matters. what is being done today is the rescue of citizens, the relief of suffering and the rapid return to normality, but there are various issues. And these issues are the issues of feeding and supporting this population directly, which has been initiated. These are the issues of information and social assistance, these are the issues of temporary or semi-permanent housing, These are all things that will improve the conditions of my fellow citizens because I come from Karditsa and these have been initiated. From there, however, there are issues of infrastructure, there are issues of restoring and developing the area at various levels».

In a question about the geosedological change that may have taken place in ThessalyMr. Lekkas emphasized that: “It’s a purely environmental issue, it’s a purely agricultural issue, an issue that also touches other parameters, it’s not only economic, etc. I think that as far as the environmental aspect is concerned, this whole process is part of the natural processes which for geological time are normal . That is, the Thessalian plain was shaped by such huge events in the last two million years. Therefore we see the effects on the environment today, but we see them under our own perspective, the perspective of a life of fifty or a hundred years at the most. But it is a purely environmental phenomenon, which shaped the Thessalian plain, which made it so productive and which is what it is today with great development. Beyond that, however, there will be temporary effects on production, on agricultural production, which was destroyed, which will find it difficult to recover immediately after because we have the transported materials which cover the fertile soil».

On whether the issue of definitive resettlement and non-re-establishment of the affected settlements has been raisedthe disaster management professor stated: “Look, this is an issue that has been put on the table in the past, especially after the 1995 earthquakes in Kozani-Grevena, where there were 20-30 settlements that suffered significant damage, from 10-20 houses in each settlement, and we made an effort of uniting these settlements then, in order for them to go to safe areas and for the settlements to be more dynamic, with their schools, etc. It partly worked, partly it didn’t. And why; Because usually in these cases, because they are people who are attached to the space, it is very difficult to move away. Of course, this can be attempted in some small housing units, in order to make them more dynamic, safer in principle because this is the main thing and then to see the whole process. They are issues of planning, development and are the dominant issue that also enters into the theory of disaster management. The ultimate goal is to make affected areas more resilient to future events».

In addition to the height of the rain, they play a decisive role as pointed out by Mr. Lekkas “the hydrological basin, the development of the streams, is the type of development of the streams, the geological criteria, is the land uses, is the orientation of the slope. There are too many issues which essentially allow destructive phenomena to develop. And it’s not just the heavy rainfall like rainfall, it’s the flooding phenomena, it’s the erosion, it’s the landslide, the marine flooding[…] Each area must be studied differently. We have developed expertise on this, we have made several efforts in several regions of the country».

Finally, you are invited to comment on the deadly earthquake in MoroccoMr. Lekkas expressed the fear that the victims will far exceed 1,000 and that under no circumstances can it affect the Greek area.