The conclusions and proposals of the Mayor Alexis Kalokairinos after the “Minoas 2024” exercise | Press Releases | The municipality

Conducting a special exercise in the Municipality of Heraklion, drawing up tsunami response plans and creating a permanent coordination center in Heraklion proposed by 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, but we found that there are big interoperability problems: who works with whom, at what level, with what time and based on which protocol. We have a lot of work to do in this area.

The second issue is that of telecommunications which 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 concerns the overall planning and here I pointed out a major shortcoming of the exercise, which concerns 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 a fourth point which concerns infrastructure and resources. And here too we should know our infrastructure. Here I proposed the immediate creation of a permanent coordinating 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 evaluation of the exercise for the Municipality of Heraklion, for which the evacuation of buildings and schools was planned, Alexis Kalokairinos stated: “Already before the start of the exercise and today the next day we are in constant 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”.

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 the 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 its disposition Communications & Networks Unit Mobile, a van of the Municipality of Heraklion specially configured to act as a telecommunications hub and contribute to the transmission of 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.

The Deputy Mayors of Civil Protection Giorgos Karantinos, Education Antonis Perisynakis, Cleanliness, Environment & Energy Nikos Gialitakis, Technical Works Giorgos Sisamakis, Spatial Planning, Town Planning & Municipal Property Stella Archontaki – Kalogeraki and Municipal Police, Social Welfare Giorgos Tsagarakis participated in the exercise with a special role. of Decentralization & Rural Development Manolis Hairetis, as well as General Secretary Maria Skrafnakis.