A two-day map exercise started today at the Cultural and Conference Center of Heraklion, ahead of the Operational Field Exercise to deal with a large Earthquake and Accompanying Geodynamic Phenomena in Crete codenamed “MINOS“, which is expected to take place in Crete next April, in the presence of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

As the professor of Disaster Management of the University of Athens, president of the OASP and president of the Exercise Planning Group, said, Efthimis Lekkasthe order to carry out the exercise was given by Mr. Mitsotakis.

“We are preparing very intensively for the exercise” said Mr. Lekkas, adding that the exercise on paper is “the trial exercise, in which all the agencies take part, in view of April when the full field development exercise will take place, in all the Regional Sections of the island”.

The purpose of the exercise and why it takes place specifically in Crete

The exercise is organized by the Ministry of Climate Crisis & Civil Protection and the Anti-Seismic Planning & Protection Organization, with the aim of contributing to the reduction of seismic risk in Crete, by strengthening the operational readiness and interoperability of all involved bodies at local, regional and central levels level.

“Essentially, the exercise aims to reduce the seismic risk in Crete, to improve the structures, infrastructures and procedures, so that we come out better and better and wiser from this whole process”, pointed out Mr. Lekkas who repeated that this exercise is taking place in Crete, without any forecast for an earthquake.

“To the question that has been put to me several times, why this exercise is carried out in Crete, I answer that such exercises must be done. We don’t see an earthquake in Crete, we won’t be able to see it anyway, though we must preparebecause the earthquakes are intertwined with the history of the island, the earthquakes gave birth to this unique environment, the earthquakes are the ones that also created the physical-geographical environment in which its unique culture developed”, concluded Mr. Lekkas.

However, among the objectives of the exercise, as pointed out, is the upgrading of the coordination of services, the process of collecting and evaluating information, as well as local and regional action plans in cases of emergency and crisis management, while as it was pointed out, it aims to train of all agencies and the awareness of the general population in matters of self-protection.

As the chief of staff of the Fire Brigade, Lt. Gen. Athanasios Balafas, said, “it is about the planning that is done at the central level, following a political decision by the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection”, in order for “all the agencies involved to sit at the same table, to cooperate , to run the plans that already exist and to see our gaps, to correct them, so that in case something happens, we are ready to respond in the most effective way”.

“The Region of Crete has always supported initiatives for earthquake protection and is not complacent”, stressed the regional governor of Crete Stavros Arnautakis, welcoming the exercise on paper, adding that “with regard to natural geodynamic phenomena and the minimization of their consequences, we are constantly improving degree of readiness of all of us, for the protection of all Cretans and visitors to the island”.

The two-day paper exercise at the Cultural and Conference Center of Heraklion, today concerned the briefing of bodies from the Regional Units of Chania and Rethymno, while tomorrow it will continue with the presence and briefing of bodies from Heraklion and Lasithi.

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