THE Efthymios Lekkas, president of OASP, head of the Greek mission in Turkey, spoke today to ERT, where he said: “I will not be surprised if the dead reach 50,000”. He remembers similar images of flattening after the great Izmit earthquake in 1999.
“This is one of the big disasters, we haven’t assessed it yet. I would not be surprised if about 50,000 dead are reported much higher than what is announced and this is based on combined observations we made in buildings and also based on information we got from Turkish colleagues. I repeat, it would not surprise me at all if the death toll reached 50,000. It is a huge area roughly the size of mainland Greece, from the Peloponnese to Macedonia and Thrace.”
“People have not realized what has happened”
“It is a huge damage which will initiate huge changes in the economic, social and political fields both inside and outside Turkey. And this is certain seeing the reactions that exist here in Turkey. Certainly, I dare say that the people here are still numb, they have not realized exactly what has happened to them, but also what will happen from now on. The city of Antioch is a city of about 300,000 inhabitants, which has been destroyed by at least 2/5, if not 3/5,” he added.
Mr. Lekkas also said that if he takes into account Fukushima, Japan, where the Japanese wanted 8 years to make a full recovery in the post-destructive stage, in Turkey it will take at least 20 years to say that the region is returning to the pre-earthquake state condition.
A scientific goal is to see what causes these disasters, he said, emphasizing that “the anti-earthquake regulations in Greece are much better than the rest of the world, and we should emphasize this so that the world feels safe. The Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization has done a very good job through all the country’s scientists and engineers and has given the country structures that are very strong, while in Turkey we see the imperfections that exist from the domestic regulations, such as of course also the very poor quality of the materials”.
In fact, he shared one of his experiences: “Inside a pillar of an apartment building, that is, in a pillar, instead of having the appropriate material, there were river pebbles, whole stones in the concrete, it did not have the normal materials, that is, gravel and cement. Within the mass of the column were unrelated materials, which of course do not contribute to armor in any way. There are thousands of these constructions, it is not a circumvention of the regulations. It is an illegality that we in Greece would consider to exist at 1% or 2%. This is the rule in Turkey.”
Mr. Lekkas repeated that the people have not realized that from tomorrow they will have absolutely nothing and the rage will overflow.
Finally, he referred to the men of EMAK and the heroic efforts being made: “The men of EMAK have three days to sleep properly, in the cold with -5 degrees and they are constantly taking risks. When we come on a mission like this, we forget everything behind us, because otherwise you can’t survive.”
Source: News Beast
With 6 years of experience, I bring to the table captivating and informative writing in the world news category. My expertise covers a range of industries, including tourism, technology, forex and stocks. From brief social media posts to in-depth articles, I am dedicated to creating compelling content for various platforms.
