Earthquake in Gulf of Corinth: “Scientists’ duty to remind us of the danger” says seismologist

Seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos mentioned yesterday’s 4.3 Richter magnitude earthquake that upset the residents of Nafpaktos.

Mr. Papadopoulos spoke to public bradcaster ERT about the possibility of Gulf of Corinth to “give” large earthquakes and the need not to forget how seismic the area is, so that there is appropriate prevention.

“I think it’s an obligation of scientists to remind of the danger, because the danger doesn’t go away if weignore it.

The risk is there because it comes from natural processes. But the theme that dominated, yesterday in a very successful event on the subject of “Earthquake Civil Protection Volunteering” organized at Vrachati, Corinth by many local organizations, and I had the honor of being an invited speaker.

What really dominated was the emphasis that we need prevention, that we need preparation. And I have to tell you that although I go to a lot of such events with such lectures, the more I go, the more I see a lack of information.”

Prevention lacking

He added that “I find the lack of prevention at the local level by local bodies, such as mainly the municipalities, which are mandated by law to prepare the ground and prepare the people. This is very important and therefore I think we should intensify attention”, he explained and emphasized that many times the reason there is no adequate prevention for earthquakes is that citizens and state authorities pay attention to more “tangible” problems.

“They have the perception that, as I’ve found, it’s a project that’s not very tangible. It is not obvious. And the day after tomorrow in the municipal elections they want to show – I say this in good faith – something more tangible, a sidewalk, a road, a bridge, a sewer.

How close are we to a major earthquake

As for how close we are to a new, possible major earthquake in Corinth, Mr. Papadopoulos said: “We can only talk about statistics. The data we have that is incontrovertible and shows us that strong earthquakes of magnitude 6 and greater in the Gulf of Corinth recur every 25 to 30 years. We are at 27 years. The last strong earthquake of this kind was in Aigios in 1995.”