Under the microscope of the scientific community lies the issue of landslide to Santorini due to the increased seismic activity recorded in the maritime area between Santorini and Amorgos lately. On Saturday morning, a team of the Tide Laboratory led by Director, Professor Manolis Vassilakis, went to the area and, using modern small -scale remote control equipment, are attempting to capture areas where areas can be worsened They often occur on the island.

The new study incorporated within a series of actions that has preached the Chief Through the Interdisciplinary Risk and Crisis Management Committee created on the issue of increased seismic activity in the region.

The data will come from the use of modern innovative equipment, in particular, manned over air vehicles (UAVs), equipped with high -discipline cameras and Lidar sensors, in order to collect very high precision and detail information on the corrosion of the slopes.

According to the Athens -Macedonian News Agency, the Professor of Relevance and Formatics, Director of the Tide Laboratory, in the Department of Geology and Geoenvironment of EKPA, Manolis Vassilakis, will be carried out by the study of the field of geology and geology. These areas, as it says, are the bay of Athinios, the old port, Ammoudi, Armeni and Korfos in Thirasia. At these points, the team of the Geology Department of the Department of Geology will apply a state -of -the -art equipment based on state -of -the -art equipment to study the surface changes on the slopes of the above areas.

“We are studying the Earth’s surface changes on these slopes, with various methodologies based on state -of -the -art equipment such as drones, which carry specific sensors either high -resolution cameras or the so -called Lidar sensors, which record a cloud Points from hundreds of millions of points, depending on the area we send them to capture, ”he notes Mr. Vassilakis while stressing that timeless monitoring is one of the parameters of the issue. “After special processing of the data we collect, we find points that we see are going to be landslide with the slightest shake due to an earthquake or with an extreme weather phenomenon – which will bring too much rain – since water participates in the erosion processes of the particular Tenn, ”he explains and adds that landslides and rock falls are due to the texture of the rock and the very steep slopes that have The slopes of the caldera.

So, through a systematic and repetitive imprint of critical areas, it will be possible to identify points with an increased likelihood of rock swelling and landslides. The same spatial data will also be used to simulate the course of the rocks in the event of switches to make suggestions for appropriate protection measures.

The research of the scientific team is expected to start with Ammoudi, Armeni and Thirasia, and a special case according to Mr. Vassilakis is the old port.

“The old port in itself is a major attraction, but it has problems. That is, falls have also been observed in the cable car, and the fences with landslides have been filled and should be cleaned. We see all this and quantify them. And beyond that we make them known to the competent authorities, “he notes and emphasizes that by the end of the other week they will have to propose some short -term measures that need to be taken. “Beyond that we will continue our research to propose longer measures,” he points out in RES-EIA.

Regarding Athinios, Mr. Vassilakis stresses that some measures have been taken while landslides observed this period have no increased risk as they are off the road.

“There are some areas that launch, landslide and continue to observe falls on them, but once it does not affect the human element we let the environment work properly. All of these falls and landslides would be done in one way or another. The man is not to blame for it, “he notes, while in the grids placed at various points, Mr Vassilakis says they are in places they had proposed in an earlier study but need maintenance and updating.

In the second level, in the same study, satellite data will be used by Greek microforestry already in operation (https://hsc.gov.gr/), in order to monitor the surface changes in the islands of Thira and Thirassia, as well as the Surface temperature changes in the island complex of burnt.

According to Mr. Vassilakis, if needed, they will go to Kameni to indicate the appropriate points to install tracking or radar devices opposite the slopes. The positions they are considering are four, specifically opposite Fira and Firostefani, opposite Oia, while another device could potentially be installed in Kameni, at some point in Thirasia.

At the same time, the possibility of two other tracking devices in the Old Port, one opposite the slopes descending the cable car and the second to another point to cover the rest of the area, is being considered. “These are devices that are used abroad either to observe landslides or to observe snowstorms. And at all times, because they work 24 hours a day, they send alert messages when there is a movement, “Mr Vassilakis notes.

Landslides The most visible risk of geodynamic phenomena

According to Mr. Vassilakis, landslide phenomena can be extremely dangerous as a secondary effects of geodynamic phenomena. “Man is generally not in danger of the earthquake as an earthquake, in danger of the house in which he is found if this is not with the right standards.

It is in danger of secondary geodynamic phenomena that are landslides, sediments that can occur on the road after such phenomena. So we have to protect it from them, “he notes while stressing that instruments such as seismographs, sensors at the bottom of the sea and around the volcano are well placed, the territorial deformation on the island is well measured,” but beyond that of what interests the citizen. is not to fall a rock on it. “

“We propose specific provisions of state -of -the -art instruments. Even the installation of radar sensors across the caldera, at specific points, which with constant monitoring and real -time can give us the drops that can happen even in hours that the human eye cannot watch. Beyond that, these provisions of the bodies are left to be approved by the competent authorities and to be placed. We have already done an initial study in this and a financial study and from there on the end of the next week we will deliver them and it is up to the authorities to implement them or not, “Mr. Vassilakis said, adding that the landslide phenomena Santorini has been at the heart of the research for 20 years.

“All of these works with the nets, the fences there at Athinios, all of these have emerged from earlier studies, with Mr. Lekka. That is, he was the scientific responsible. I was a partner then. Santorini has been studying for at least twenty years, ”he says.

Corresponding research using state -of -the -art tools have been conducted by his team at the Zakynthos shipwreck, in the Samaria Gorge on the Arvanitia trail in Nafplio and Kalymnos.

“Our methodology is based on timeless monitoring. So what is ready to fall, and then we distinguish it from the fixed so that a priority is made to the measures. We cannot dress with nets specially and with fences the entire area. It’s impossible. So we have to focus on specific areas. And of course all this is done with projects that will be compatible with each environment. We cannot cement for example all the caldera if this could give us security. We must also keep the environment as it is, “Mr. Vassilakis points out in RES-EIA.

For Mr Vassilakis, the issue is to reduce the danger of landslides.

“The point is to reduce the risk. To reduce human exposure to such dangers. The progress of technology is also helping us.

All of these problems exist around the world and not just in Greece. All the laboratories here at the EKPA have given their best know -how so that they can study the phenomenon of each of their own.

And all this know -how produced, concentrated and delivered to the authorities. Beyond that it is a matter of the principles of how to use it or not. The university is here to do its research and apply its results to each area. University can reach there. Until he proposes the measures that should be taken. Either short or long -term, “Mr. Vassilakis points out.