Q: Can you tell us about the situation in Halkidiki and the initiatives your Ministry has undertaken?
N. PANAGIOTOPOULOS: Look, right now, the two Army power generators are on their way to the areas affected by the power outage, which is due to the great damage caused to the main power transmission line. As of yesterday night, the Armed Forces are in a state of readiness. Two helicopters, one from the Hellenic Navy and one from the Hellenic Air Force, flew on search missions for the missing fisherman. Due to the intensity of the storm they could not cover the entire area and didn’t find anything, but the search will continue.
Following this, early in the morning, the entire Armed Forces were in a state of readiness. We coordinated with the Chief of Defence and the Army Chief. Army heavy machinery is on 30 minute readiness to take action in order to restore damage, following, of course, coordination with the competent Ministers, i.e. the Minister of Citizen Protection, the Minister of Interior, and the Minister of Transport, who went on site and with whom we agreed for the provision of the power generators.
It is a great disaster. It is tragic that human lives were lost, but the state apparatus is moving. I think the problems resolved were big and pressing. As for the Armed Forces, they are once again ready and rush in to restore damage.
Q: Was the state apparatus ready to immediately respond to the disaster?
N. PANAGIOTOPOULOS: The problem with extreme weather phenomena is that they get too extreme, too often. That was not the case a few years ago. And, unfortunately, they struck yesterday with this deadly storm, whose intensity was equivalent to storms in the Pacific Ocean, as I was informed by Army meteorologists. Of course the state apparatus must be alert. I think this alertness does exist and there is always the last line of defence, to use a figure of speech, the Armed Forces, who rush in to prevent, as well as restore.
Q: Has the process to restore damage started? Will those affected receive some sort of aid?
N. PANAGIOTOPOULOS: I’d like to tell you that this is not our job. We receive requests from the competent authorities, i.e. the Ministry of Citizen Protection, the General Secretariat for Civil Protection of the Ministry of Interior, and rush in to assist with the restoration of the damage. I imagine you should discuss the rest with the Ministers who met today on site to examine relief measures. This is not the job of the Ministry of National Defence, as you understand, we just restore damages and help the people in need right now.
Q: Do the power generators cover a large part of the needs?
N. PANAGIOTOPOULOS: I’m not sure about that. This is a purely technical matter. We just provided them. Of course they can’t cover all needs, but they will be able to restore part of the damage in order to power the area, even partially, until the damage is restored, which I understand is a matter of hours. But the competent authority is the Independent Power Transmission Operator, so you should contact them.
Thank you.
