Damages caused by yesterday’s 5.3 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale, mainly in temples, in Catholics, monks, without threatening their static, but their structural elements, was found by the Working Group of the Technical Chamber of Greece/Central Macedonia, AUTH, who visited and inspected four monasteries of Mount Athos, the Monasteries of Dochiri, Xenophontos, Agios Panteleimonos, and Simon Petras.

The checks will continue all week and end at its end, which will be sent to the state.

“From the picture so far from the four monasteries, the references we had from other monasteries we will visit, as well as our own estimates based on the distance from the focus of the earthquake, we believe that the cost of total damage, from the earthquake, will be in Mount Athos. TEE/TKM and General Manager of KEDAK, Elias Pertzinidis and continued:

“There are damage that requires immediate interventions, not because they are in danger of collapsing buildings – KEDAK has done an excellent job in previous years in buildings, and this seems now – but because there may be, in a further powerful earthquake, the collapse It has been cracking today, in a subsequent powerful earthquake may cause damage to the dome, or the collapse of plaster, frescoes and mosaics, invaluable historical value.

In addition to damage to temples, mainly cracks in masonry, tile and plaster collapses, chandeliers in the Holy Bank in two monasteries, on the northwestern side of the Simonopetra Monastery, some pillars, building blocks between the windows, in buildings have been affected. In any case, as experts point out, the damage should be repaired immediately so as not to cause greater damage to the future, possibly a new powerful earthquake.

“These points we checked I would describe as” yellow “if they were outside Mount Athos, in an urban center, that is, there is no issue with their static at the moment, they are not” red “, but they definitely need immediate interventions and repairs to prevent any possibility of” reddish “.

“We are watching, with the team, the evolution of the phenomenon, we had already installed an accelerator for a year in the Xenophon Monastery and intended to place two more, in the other, to more accurately appreciate the possible impact on buildings.”

In the coming days, the step will visit the Monasteries of Zografou and Kostonitou, which is closer to the epicenter of the earthquake, than other remotely, as well as the monasteries of Hilandari, Dionysiou, Grigoriou, Agios Pavlos. Already, there has been a telephone communication of the scale and informing it from the only Vatopedi and by the end of the week there will be a complete picture of the damage to monasteries and cells throughout Mount Athos, as well as proposals for their recovery.