Evaluation of the great Minoas exercise: “Embarrassment in tsunami management” the mayor of Heraklion found

The conclusions and evaluation of the “Minoas 2024” exercise were discussed during a meeting in Heraklion as the aim from the beginning was to highlight any shortcomings and weaknesses.

Summer: The 4 shortcomings that emerged

Conducting a special exercise in the Municipality of Heraklion, drawing up tsunami response plans and creating a permanent coordination center in Heraklion proposed Alexis Kalokairinos:

Particularly useful were the conclusions obtained from the “Minoas 2024” exercise for the Municipality of Heraklion, with Mayor Alexis Kalokairinos proceeding with their evaluation and submitting specific proposals to the relevant meeting of the involved bodies.

In particular, Alexis Kalokairinos emphasized that it was a useful exercise at the level of Crete, but less useful for Heraklion. “Less useful, because her planning did not include field incidents in Heraklion. This is a critical deficiency and I have already pointed out that it needs to be filled. Exercises should be carried out in Heraklion, which gathers almost 1/3 of the population of Crete, with the particularities it has as a preeminently urban area and with the dangers we all know.” pointed out the Mayor of Heraklion.

Alexis Kalokairinos spoke specifically about the gaps, submitting proposals for the preparation of exercises in Heraklion, for the preparation of a tsunami response plan and for the creation of a permanent coordinating control center. As he characteristically stated:

“We all have to be very strict with ourselves in evaluating these actions. It was positive that we met and worked together, however we found that they exist major interoperability issues: who cooperates with whom, at what level, with what time and based on what protocol. We have a lot of work to do in this area.

The second issue it is that of telecommunications that is very important. Deficiencies have been pointed out and I hope that these will be recorded and replenished in a very specific way starting with satellite phones and reaching radios given that conventional communications in the event of such events break down. We at the Municipality of Heraklion treated it as an opportunity to do our own internal test and we operated our own internal wireless network which worked relatively satisfactorily but we also have very specific ideas and plans on how we will develop this so as to ensure our communications. However, as I said, the problem is more general.

The third issue it concerns the overall planning and here I pointed out a major shortcoming of the exercise, which concerns the case of the development of gravitational waves, tsunamis, on the coast of Crete. It was a scenario that had practically been ruled out with only point cases being unrealistic. However when it was raised yesterday we all saw the utter embarrassment of managing such events which are truly large-scale events of a cataclysmic nature.

And fourth point which concerns infrastructure and resources. And here too we should know our infrastructure. Here I proposed the immediate creation of a permanent coordination control center and here the Municipality of Heraklion can deploy as long as we have the assurance that this will be operational 24 hours a day for the moment when what we are discussing today happens and it comes without warning. There is an issue of readiness and this extends to the rest of the resources and infrastructure available which of course we should ensure their existence with realistic utilization times.

All these are issues that prove that the exercise was well done. The people who participated showed a lot of zeal and many of them are people who do their job very well and do it with great commitment and also there are many volunteer groups. All this brings us back to the first issue of coordination, interoperability at various levels. These are issues where progress is being made, but we still have a long way to go.”

Regarding the assessment of the exercise for the Municipality of Heraklion, for which evacuations of buildings and schools were foreseen, Alexis Kalokairinos stated: “Already before the start of the exercise and today the next day we are in continuous activity around these issues. It is the gathering times, the evacuation plans, the escapes, the definition of those in charge who will direct the population. These are the basis, I would say, which is being reviewed and here we have a real way to go but we should do it quickly because the responsibility is too great and we have absolute awareness».

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St. Arnautakis: Congratulations Regional Governor of Crete for the good cooperation of those involved

With the “in heat” report, the “Minoas” exercise was completed 2024” in Crete. The first evaluation of the exercise was done with the participation of all involved in Crete and Athens.

Welcoming the debriefing meeting, the Regional Governor of Crete Stavros Arnautakis thanked all the participants because in the three days of the exercise, despite the individual problems that existed, it proved that there can be cooperation between the services and agencies involved. “We proved that we want and can solve problems, no matter where they came from”, he emphasized and noted that coordination must be better between all the services involved.

Regarding the creation of a Regional Center for Civil Protection, The Stavros Arnautakis underlined that the Region of Crete has allocated a plot of land to create the infrastructure and announced that he discussed the issue with the responsible Minister in the previous days as part of the exercise and exists most renewed mobility by the Ministry for the implementation ofof 13 coordinators in the Regions of the country.

THE The Governor of Crete especially thanked the Fire Service for the effective intervention it had in the fire in Chania with the support of the police, of the port and the services involved because as he pointed out, “an area was saved” with their project in Chania.

The valuation meeting

The President of the OASP Professor Efthymis Lekkas, the Regional Governor of Crete Stavros Arnautakis, representatives of the Regional and Local Government, military authorities and security forces, organizations and voluntary organizations participated in the evaluation meeting of the exercise.

It is recalled that the two-day exercise “Minoas 2024” was organized by the Ministry of Climate Crisis & Civil Protection, the Organization for Earthquake Planning & Protection and the Region of Crete. The participation of the Municipality of Heraklion included the provision of the Mobile Communications & Networks Unit, a van of the Municipality of Heraklion specially configured to act as a telecommunications hub and help transmit information between operating departments and control centers. He also participated by creating the telecommunications network for the whole island in collaboration with the Association of Radio Amateurs, having on hand project machinery and staff on standby, as well as with the concession of the Cultural Conference Center of Heraklion in which the operational center for all of Crete was set up.