Lekkas from Turkey: “The conditions are difficult, there is no coordination” – The Greek delegation has arrived

A group of experienced firefighters of the 1st EKAM arrived at Turkey to assist in the rescue operation of those trapped under the rubble left behind by the deadly 7.8 Richter earthquake. The president of the OASP, Efthymis Lekkas, is also in the neighboring country as part of the mission.

Efthymis Lekkas spoke on the show “Society Hour MEGA” and described the difficult conditions prevailing in the region. The buildings have collapsed, while the temperatures are below 0 and it is raining.

“These are extremely difficult conditions. There is no coordination of external aid. There is chaos in the city and on the streets… We had some contacts about where to go. It is very difficult, there is no official coordination center,” he said.

Today, Tuesday, the Greek mission will attempt to extricate people who are in the ruins of the collapsed buildingswith Mr. Lekka characterizing the rescue as difficult due to the conditions.

“We will have to traverse large parts of the devastated area. We will have to identify the kind of help that is needed, the kind of intervention, the evolution of the seismic activity which is a very pivotal point,” he said.

“The seismic excitation was caused by a transverse strike, with a northeast-southwest direction. There is a fault with opposite direction. Through the two faults, the Arabian plate actually moves towards the north. In fact, it moved north 3 meters with the first earthquake and around 2 meters with the second. The plate is dismembering Turkey, this is the mechanism that caused the earthquake,” he added.

According to what has been planned, the Greek mission will remain in Turkey for one week, however, if necessary, it will stay for more days.