Earthquake in Crete – Tents are set up for 2,500 people who were left homeless – The area is in a state of emergency

The Minister of Climate Crisis & Civil Protection, Christos Stylianidis, who is in area, said that together with the mayor and the governor and the whole team of local authorities, they decided to set up tents that will be able to accommodate 2,500 people, in order to serve all the families and all the people who should not enter the their homes tonight.

He also announced that the area has been declared a state of emergency, while he added that the injured so far are 12, it seems that they do not have craniocerebral injuries, however there will be continuous information about their state of health.

“Let’s assess buildings”

“We immediately came to the area that suffered the earthquake. We are watching it. You also lived through it here, that we had two earthquakes while we are here and we were trying to coordinate all the services of the local authorities. It seems that a tour should be done in the surrounding area, because in villages around Arkalochori the problems are more, because the houses were older, they had not been included in the seismic code”, said Mr. Stylianidis, while adding that he would go to the old Arkalochori to see and evaluate the buildings there together with the service of the Ministry of Infrastructure.

“We are monitoring the seismic sequence with our scientists, there is a continuous monitoring by the Seismic Risk Group and it informs us about this phenomenon that is in progress. I do not want to replace any scientist, it is not my job, that is why we brought Mr. Lekkas with us. The effort is to serve the people who will be away from home. We will offer shelter and food so that no one is in a difficult position “, stressed Mr. Stylianidis while underlining:” Above all, human lives “.

Asked about how long people will stay on stage, he said: “No one can say, because scientists must be the first to tell us,” while he added that they can not discount if the seismic phenomenon will stop tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. “We as the State, as the Ministry of Climate Crisis & Civil Protection will be constantly here to support the world,” he stressed. He then expressed his condolences to the family of the deceased, saying that he would visit them either now or when he returned and added that they would visit the injured.

“A few words, many deeds. “Let’s go and evaluate the buildings,” he concluded.

Lekkas: The phenomenon is in progress

On his part, the president of OASP, Efthymis Lekkas said: “We are dealing with a peculiar sequence. We all thought we were going into impairment, but we could not prescribe natural phenomena, unfortunately, and we were refuted once again. We have an earthquake of 5.8 degrees in the southern part of the fault. The earthquake was unexpected, which really affected the buildings, and of course [we had] many aftershocks.

“I do not think we can estimate the seismic sequence yet. We have earthquakes of 4.3 – 4.6 and 4.8 degrees. The phenomenon is ongoing. In the evening, at 10:00, the Seismic Risk Assessment Committee will meet again and there we will see with all the scientific data exactly where the phenomenon is going. A phenomenon that is in fact a peculiar phenomenon “.