The Greek government launched a major mobilisation to assist the inhabitants of earthquake-stricken Kefalonia after a second major quake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale shook the island on Monday morning. Acting on the orders of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, a number of senior government officials - including Public Order and Citizen Protection Minister Nikos Dendias - as well as the head of the armed forces and the leadership of the police and fire brigade, travelled to the island on Monday evening to coordinate relief efforts.
Apart from Dendias, said a report from AMNA, the government was represented by Education Minister Constantine Arvanitopoulos, the general secretary for civil protection Patroklos Georgiadis and the general secretary for public works Stratos Simopoulos, in addition to MPs and party delegations sent by main opposition SYRIZA and opposition DIMAR.
Government sources said arrangements have been made for a cruise ship to arrive in Kefalonia to house those unable to return to their houses, with a capacity of 900 beds and catering facilities. The extra ship will anchor at Argostoli, which is now the only harbour on the island in a condition to receive it. A further 250 beds will also be available on board the "Eleftherios Venizelos", which has been anchored at Argostoli harbour for the past week.
Relief efforts are complicated by very poor weather conditions, with strong winds and bitter cold, that make the plight of those left homeless even harder.
The second quake, just one week after the initial strong earthquake that occurred on January 26, has caused additional damage to already stressed infrastructure on the island. The Argostoli-Lixouri road remains closed as a result of fallen rocks and landslides that made authorities ban vehicle traffic, with the exception of vehicles responding to emergencies. Serious damage has also made the Lixouri harbour unusable.
Officials on the island are due to carry out a meeting at the operations centre set up at the Ionian Islands΄ Technical Educational Institute in Argostoli, where they will discuss the first assessment of damages from the latest quake.
Arriving on the island, Dendias said that the state should immediately take measures to help locals. The minister expressed his sorrow for the damages the earthquake has caused, especially around hard-hit Lixouri, “as citizens can not go back to everyday life”. He said he would brief the prime minister concerning the situation on the island, adding that “the state apparatus has to do its duty.”
Dendias visited Lixouri and inspected infrastructure and buildings damaged by the earthquake, such as the port, the hospital and schools. He then attended a meeting that decided to reinforce the state apparatus in Lixouri and Paliki.
“I have already given orders to the police and the fire brigade. A separate team of engineers will also move to Lixouri. Moreover, officials from the municipal and regional authorities have moved to the area to inspect public buildings in Lixouri. The state has to… assure citizens it stands by their side.”
As part of the “Xenokratis” plan, the armed forces΄ general Staff, the Coast Guard and the National Centre for Health Operation have sent more personnel to the island.
Twenty police officers have been supplied by the Western Greece police headquarters, to relieve 30 colleagues sent after the first quake on January 26. The replacement group of officers is scheduled to remain in on the island until February 7. Eight members of the fire brigade have been sent from the city of Patras.
The health ministry has organised a team of four doctors to travel to Kefalonia on Monday, while arrangements were being made with the Athens Medical Association (ISA), to send another three doctors, including a pediatric surgeon. The doctors will bring with them a mobile dry sterilization chamber and a mobile unit from the Center for Disease Inspection and Control (KEELPNO) to provide first-aid care.
The mayor of the nearby island Corfu will also visit the Kefalonia with a team of civil engineers and technicians, who will assist in evaluating and fixing damages.
The environment, energy and climate change ministry, meanwhile, has secured free fuel for the teams carrying out building inspections on Kefalonia, through an agreement with the firm EKO.
Ten people were slightly injured in the second major earthquake to strike the island at 5:08 a.m. on Monday morning, mostly as a result of being hit by falling objects. All were discharged from hospital after receiving first aid.
According to the Geodynamic Institute of the National Observatory of Athens, the quake measured 5.7 on the Richter scale and was felt in several cities on either side of the Corinthhian Gulf and as far as Elia in the northwest Peloponnese. Geodynamic Institute director Dimitra Sachpatzi said the epicentre was 12 km from Argostoli, on the western coast, in the same area as the Jan. 26 earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale. She warned that more earthquakes of similar strength were expected over the next few days and did not rule out the possibility that the faultline responsible for the massive 1953 earthquake that virtually leveled the island would be reactivated.
Archbishop Ieronymos flies to Kefalonia with armed forces΄ staff, equipment
Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece flew to earthquake-stricken Kefalonia with the chief of Armed Forces΄ General Staff General Michail Kostarakos, who arrived to coordinate the Defkalion project for natural disasters activated by National Defence Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos on Monday morning. The Defkalion plan will continue to be in force until the state of emergency declared on the island has been lifted. Meanwhile, Avramopoulos will keep the prime minister constantly updated on developments and the action of the armed forces.
The archbishop and the general arrived on a C-27J military aircraft and were soon after joined by a C-130 plane carrying more armed forces personnel and three civilian doctors, as well as machinery and emergency equipment such as tents and other basic needs to the town of Lixouri. A Greek Army Chinook helicopter also brought military staff to the island. Armed forces units arriving on Kefalonia included eight army doctors, an army engineers΄ unit and 80 Hellenic Defence Systems (EAS) engineers.
A second Air Force C-130 transport plane took off for Kefalonia on Monday night, carrying additional tents and emergency supplies, as well as a team of Navy Underwater Demolitions commandos, who will examine the seabed near the pier at Argostoli harbour to ensure that Hellenic Navy ships can safely approach and lay anchor there.
Due to arrive are the tank-landing craft "Chios" and the general support ship "Prometheus". A second tank-landing craft that will set sail on Monday night, the "Ikaria", will bring heavy machinery supplied by the army, including a bulldozer, trench diggers, tow trucks and other equipment, such as mobile campaign kitchens, water-tank trucks, a vehicle with 15 chemical toilets, jeeps and others. (AMNA)
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