Mitsotakis on earthquake in Turkey: Deep sorrow for the disaster – We put our forces at Turkey’s disposal

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The prime minister expressed Greece’s willingness to provide assistance to Turkey in whatever is requested.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis held a teleconference with the relevant ministries to inform them about the development of the bad weather “Barbara” and to provide assistance to Turkey to deal with the consequences of the devastating earthquake.

The prime minister expressed Greece’s willingness to provide assistance to Turkey in whatever is requested.

“To place our forces at Turkey’s disposal depending on what they ask of us”

The Prime Minister was informed by the relevant ministries about the consequences of the devastating earthquake, about the requests for help and how it can be provided. At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister emphasized:

“First of all, to express my deep sorrow for the devastating earthquake in Turkey and to emphasize, once again, that Greece was the first to offer to support Turkey and I understand that the Minister will inform us in more detail of Civil Protection, that the sending of an aircraft with a force of EMAK, which will assist in the rescue missions, has already been approved by the Turkish side.

We should put all our forces at Turkey’s disposal depending on what else they may ask of us. My assessment is that we are obviously talking about a catastrophic earthquake, the extent of which will be fully realized over time. The first concept always in these cases is to rescue and save as many people as possible in the wreckage.

It is a job that due to experience we also know quite well and I think then we will have to see what other equipment, medical equipment, blankets, tents, the Turks may ask us to send them next”.

Direct departure from Elefsina

As announced by the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, a group of 21 firefighters from the 1st EMAK with two rescue dogs and a special rescue vehicle, is leaving in the next few hours as an aid mission to Turkey, which has been hit by a very strong earthquake.

On the order of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece immediately responded to Turkey’s request to send aid to deal with the devastating consequences of the powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred in the early hours of February 6 in Southeast Turkey and Syria.

The team will be accompanied by an officer-engineer of the Fire Brigade with expertise in the underpinning of collapsed building ruins, 5 doctors and rescuers from EKAV as well as the President of OASP, Efthymios Lekkas.

The mission will depart by C-130 from Elefsina airport.

Barbara: The response of the mechanism is very satisfactory

“The response of the state apparatus was very satisfactory. We learned our lessons from previous similar bad weather”

Regarding the development of the bad weather “Barbara”, detailed information was given by each ministry on the situation prevailing in its sector and it was found that the response of the state apparatus was immediate and effective where problems occurred. Where some issues remain to be resolved is with power supply in a few areas – much less compared to the past – and these are expected to be resolved soon.

Also, the state apparatus is on standby and monitoring the evolution of the phenomenon. Related announcements will be issued during the day. The Prime Minister noted during the meeting:

“The response of the state apparatus as a whole I think was very satisfactory, in the sense that we learned our lessons from previous similar bad weather. I believe that in general we succeeded and responded to the demands of the citizens both in terms of the condition of the roads, but also in terms of the restoration of the damage to the power grids, something that had concerned us a lot in the past.

I should also say that it seems that we are now learning as a country that we have to live with prevention and that citizens listen to the recommendations of Civil Protection.

I think that this is also a very important achievement for the future and of course I repeat that the fact that we now have at our disposal the tools of distance education, but also of distance work. They certainly give us the opportunity to cover hours that would otherwise be wasted.

It is good that children can do distance learning. They will be able to do distance learning and play in the snow. They can do both. One does not exclude the other.

However, compared to where we were a few years ago, I think that significant progress has been made in this area.”

The meeting was attended by the Minister of National Defence, Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, the Minister of Citizen Protection Takis Theodorikakos, the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Christos Stylianidis, the Minister of State Akis Skertsos, the Deputy Minister of the Interior Stelios Petsas, the Deputy Minister of National Defense Nikos Hardalias, the Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection Lefteris Economou, Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Evangelos Tournas, Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Yiannis Bratakos, Chief of the General Directorate of Defense and Security General Konstantinos Floros, Secretary General of Health Services Yiannis Kotsiopoulos, Director of the Diplomatic Office of Anna Pripoun Maria Boura, the Managing Director of DEDDIE Anastasios Manos and the President of the Anti-Seismic Planning and Protection Organization, Efthymios Lekkas.

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