Exercise “Minos”: How the virtual 6.4 Richter earthquake in Chania was dealt with

It was shortly after 10:30 on Monday morning when the virtual 6.4 Richter earthquake shook Chania. At 10:20, evacuation messages were sent to residents from 112. Shortly after the tornado struck, buildings began to collapse, schools collapsed, people trappedthey were in carstheir motives and in the gorge of Samaria after landslides, students trapped under the rocks.

Thirteen years after the large-scale anti-seismic exercise of the European Crisis Mechanism, the “Minos” exercise, the first corresponding Greek exercise, includes the Crete on the map of testing and controlling the reflexes of the state apparatus.

The exercise involves four Regional Units, 24 municipalities, a number of local bodies and services – Police, Fire, ports, airports – ministries, private businesses and 1,000 schools.

The exercise was based on two hypothetical, but highly realistic scenarios, for a 6.4 Richter earthquake in Chania and a 7.2 Richter earthquake, tomorrow, 4/23, in Heraklion.

From Athens, in the special room set up at the Ministry of Civil Protection and Climate Crisis, Mr Kostas Synolakis, professor of Natural Disasters, has the general coordination of the exercise. Together with the team of controllers, they analyze every piece of information from the field, from the Operations Centers in Chania, Heraklion and Rethymno and the Fire Brigade drones above the canyons, but also the movements and decisions made by the ESKEDIK (Unit Coordination Center for Operations and Crisis Management), in a second room of the ministry.

What is happening today and tomorrow is virtual reality and reminds a bit of Hollywood. The goal is that when a major natural disaster event actually occurs, we have the foresight to deal with it immediately.

“Right now, on 112, there is a flood of reports from citizens. Civil Protection employees impersonate the victims. They call 112 and give descriptions of various events. According to the scenario of the exercise, they are students and they are trapped under rocks in the gorge of Samaria. We see in the room the rescuers of the Fire Department working on the scene” explains the professor to “K”.

As we speak with the professor, a warning of a small tsunami in Souda Bay, expected to flood the docks, is sent to the Operations Centers of Crete. Tomorrow, the notification will also be sent to the residents and settlements will need to be evacuated.

“What is happening today and tomorrow is virtual reality and reminds a bit of Hollywood. The goal is that when a major natural disaster event actually occurs, we have the foresight to deal with it immediately. The only value of the “Hollywood” part of the exercise is that they begin to understand in ESKEDIK what kind of incidents they are likely to face, since the two earthquakes are hypothetical but extremely realistic for northern Crete” notes Mr. Synolakis, who explains that the exercise was being prepared by the ministry for about six months.

In microscopium the chthose vseffect of the systemthread

One of the main goals is to become one crash test in the crisis management departments of the ministries.

“Today, for example, we are closely monitoring the Ministry of Education. We want to see how she will handle the many phone calls she received from school principals. How long did it take to evacuate each school? What do the crisis teams within the ministries do, at the time of disasters, and at what level are their reflexes?” notes Mr. Synolakis.

As for the reason why Crete was chosen, the professor notes that it is an area that can produce a combined tsunami and strong earthquake. He refers to the 8.5 Richter earthquake that occurred in 365 AD, “a very good recorded and studied earthquakefrom universities her Oxford and his Cambridge. Based on this earthquake, the 2011 exercise was carried out in which both French and Cypriot rescuers took part.”

Today we are closely monitoring the Ministry of Education. We want to see how she will handle the many phone calls she received from school principals. How long did it take to evacuate each school?

According to Mr. Synolakis, “the State’s perception of Civil Protection has changed to an enormous extent in the last decade, willingly or not, by the events themselves, with which we are increasingly confronted. Today, with the means at our disposal, we can have an image in the coordination center in Athens, of all the actions that are developing in Crete or elsewhere. None of this was there in 2011. The questions now are: “How different are our results from 2011? How do we need to further shield the mechanism?”

In 2020 for example, according to the professor, the small tsunami that occurred in Ierapetra after an earthquake showed that more tide gauges are needed to confirm the existence and size of the tsunami.

Stsound and better education of citizens

From Crete where the coordinator of the field exercise is located, president of the OASP, professor Regymis Lyou are he describes in turn entrapments in tunnels, landslides in the Kotsyfos gorge, collapse of old buildings in Chania, entrapments in building structures in Rethymno, rescues at the dam in Aposelemi, evacuations of settlements in Agios Nikolaos – more than 70 simultaneous episodes.

“Today, 140,000 residents, companies, hospitals, schools were on foot. The education of citizens in these incidents shows gaps and needs improvement.”

Mr. Lekkas notes that as important and critical as the reflexes of the system, it is the interoperability and cooperation between the many services, an issue in which the Greek State still suffers. The education of citizens is also crucial.

“Today, 140,000 residents, companies, hospitals, schools were on foot. The education of citizens in these incidents shows gaps and needs improvement” notes the professor.

Mr. Synolakis adds: “Some locals take all this with humor. Fortunately, the principals at the schools took it very seriously.”

By about 16:00 the exercise for the first day had come to an end, the tents and camps had been packed up. Tomorrow, the day includes even more difficult and multiple episodes in Heraklion and an even bigger tsunami.

On Wednesday 4/24, some first answers will be given as to the readiness of the mechanism. According to Mr. Synolakis, the goal is to carry out such an exercise every year in a different Region of the country from now on. He even adds that in a next phase, the episodes of the exercises should not be scheduled, but this will happen when there is first a little friction with the object on the part of all the services.