“We examined the entire canyon, the level of danger remains the same as it was before yesterday’s tragic events… We believe that after some interventions that need to be done, the canyon can be given back to the public… But it needs a lot of attention, the danger is still with exists throughout time in the gorge”.
This was stated by the professor, Efthymios Lekkas, who with a group of geologists from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, as the head, performed an autopsy in the area where the tragic incident occurred yesterday with the death of the 32-year-old tourist who was hit by a falling rock.
With Professor Mr. Vasilakis, Mr. Lekkas performed the autopsy, pointing out that the Samaria gorge “is a unique area in the whole world but it carries risks. The canyon was formed morphologically, by erosions, landslides by rainfall, therefore the risks exist. It is at a level that we can manage, but the decision to open to visitors belongs to the relevant bodies.”
“We could not avoid yesterday’s events”
As Mr. Lekkas pointed out, the canyon will be monitored by experts and scientists, but he explained that “we could not avoid yesterday’s events because we had no idea that what happened inside the canyon would happen. We had a large percentage of rain with great rapidity, which phenomenon developed a few kilometers south of Crete in the sea area with hydrosyphons large, which fed the clouds and then, with the first obstacle they found, the rain fell right on the first hill, that is, the doors of the canyon and we had all these phenomena and events”.
He even praised the management of the people by the authorities given that over 1,000 people were inside the canyon. “We are continuing our efforts together with the O.FY.PE.KA. together with the Civil Protection to reduce as much as possible the risk and to reduce the exposure of people to danger, said Mr. Lekkas and added: “That is, when the visitors are inside the canyon, we must do those things to reduce the exposure, because we cannot reduce natural risks. The rocks may look solid but there is a lot of uncertainty.”
What should be done
He asked not to say things about interventions and projects inside the canyon, and those who say them do not have the knowledge and ability to understand the issues. “The slopes are 200 and 400 meters, the canyon is big, no one can go and do projects to put grids or something else and all these projects are logically canceling the natural monument as well. Therefore we have to come to terms with the evolving geodynamic hydrometrological processes, see what we can do to reduce the visitors’ exposure to risk, because the phenomena will exist. We will have earthquakes, strong phenomena, therefore we must reduce the vulnerability of visitors to avoid such sad events”.
Interventions that may exist, as he mentioned, are: “Essentially form new paths in some places, with less exposure of people. This does not mean that we will eliminate the risk, but with some simple interventions on the slopes, with some warning signs along the canyon that inform about the possible risks but also to shape our operational plans so that we can manage emergencies we can we achieve enough. At any moment, an earthquake, a landslide, strong phenomena that we cannot prevent can occur, therefore what we can do is to reduce our exposure and the risks inside the canyon.’
In the meantime, at noon, the last 10 visitors who were accommodated yesterday in the village of Samaria for precautionary reasons left the Samaria gorge. All were safely transferred to their areas and hotels of accommodation.
Tomorrow, an autopsy will also be carried out by experts from the Hellenic Geological and Mineral Research Authority (EAGME) and immediately after that the maintenance of the path will begin.
Source: RES-MPE
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