About the extreme weather phenomena affecting our country and the incalculable disasters in Thessaly from the bad weather Elias and also the bad weather Daniel spoke of Professor of Geology at the University of Athens Efthymios Lekkas.

Speaking at the First Program, Mr. Lekkas pointed out, “Anyone dealing with floods and especially natural phenomena must have a horizon of at least 5 years to be able to say that we have done something and are reducing the risk of disasters.” “The causes of the floods in the wider area have not been removed and when we have some heavy rainfall, this will always happen” he said regarding the significant burden received by the flooded areas during the second bad weather that hits Thessaly these days, just 20 days after the bad weather daniel. “Besides, we couldn’t do anything during this period of time, that is, between the first flood and the second flood,” he added.

“Of course we can gradually reduce the risk, but this risk reduction will not be due to technical projects, interventions, procedures that we have to do, but will be due to the reduction of our exposure. That is, exposure is a very powerful factor in the equation of natural disaster management and risk. That is, the less we are exposed to a natural phenomenon, the smaller the losses,” he explained.

“The infrastructures will continue to be exposed, because they need technical works, interventions and procedures that require a lot of time to be done,” added Mr. Lekkas.

“The soil has reached 100% saturation, so the possibilities for it to take water are not sufficient, that is, to penetrate the water. (…) In the Thessalian plain, the surface of the underground water table was at minus 200-250 and now it is on the surface. So you understand that it cannot absorb any more water. And it’s not just that it can’t absorb any more water. It is that the soil that is saturated behaves very negatively, that is, it can, as we say, liquefy, that is, acquire the properties of a heavy liquid, which is mud and water and which of course can flood, cover everything. So it is not easy to cultivate such a soil in a large area, because when we have a mud of the order of five ten centimeters, this can be beneficial to a certain extent. But when we have mud of clay and silt of the order of one meter in a large area, it can be extremely negative for our cultivation” pointed out Mr. Lekkas

As far as the static adequacy of the buildings in the area is concerned, the problems that should be addressed are the problems of erosion, the undermining of the foundations and the landslides, according to the president of the OASP.

“In this direction, I have also made a proposal to the competent coordinating body to see which buildings are the ones that in any case cannot be repaired or demolished if they have not been demolished by the two bad weathers. Then we have an intermediate category of buildings that are masonry without reinforced concrete, these are the big problem because they can be demolished, but they can also be repaired. And it is also the big problem, which is modern buildings with a load-bearing body made of reinforced concrete, which in the majority of them do not have problems, few have problems of static adequacy from undermining the foundations, from rushing waters or from differential settlements at the foundation level. These buildings can remain. Of course, these also have problems because when the water has entered, the water that enters also fills the masonry and the bricks that are empty between them and the floors and so on, and there should be special attention because inside these houses there are problems with moisture, odors, and possibly health, many times with hygiene, because this water remains for a long time,” said Mr. Lekkas.

“We have proposed the execution of an applied research program that will first record all these problems in the villages. Second, it will classify by categories according to the risk, whether it is flood, landslide, undermining. Thirdly, he will see in each residential unit what is there in terms of geodynamic conditions, geological conditions, hydrological conditions and then he will see if the village or the neighborhood in the village can be moved to an adjacent area or not. In Vlochos I have the solution. The village can be moved, and in special cases villages can be merged. Of course, we have proposed this in the past and it has met with great social reactions, reasonable” added the professor, noting that it is possible to move villages a short distance, while merging them is difficult”.

Regarding the capital and its resistance to a strong bad weather, Mr. Lekkas explained that in Athens the urban context is completely different.

“Certainly things have happened in Athens. Certainly there is still a lot to do, but because there is a complexity essentially in the systems, which have quite a lot of vulnerability. In these systems we would have great effects, in the industrial, manufacturing, commercial, administrative and political sectors. There are many sectors, the large technical projects, the large factories, the excessive exposure of the population, because we have half of Greece in a very specific area. So our exposure increases. So the vulnerability is very great in Athens” pointed out Mr. Lekkas, while noting that Kifissos is a threat and interventions must be made. “That is, to be able at some point to clean the underground Kifissos. We have to see what will happen at the exit of Kifissos.

“According to an investigation that was done recently, it needs cleaning, because there are several things in Kifissos. A group of speleologists did the research because that’s the only way you can enter Kifissos. And they saw that really in many cases there are objects that can reduce the supply of Kifissos and cause problems” concluded Mr. Lekkas.