Buildings evacuated, following landslide in Lesvos

A landslide in the town of Plomari on Lesvos island has resulted in numerous buildings being evacuated.

A team of experts decided to evacuate 29 buildings, of which 15 are residences and  decisions affects a total of 37 people in Plomari, who have been housed in hotels.

The meeting was held by the Civil Protection Coordination Agency and made its decision based on the advice given by the head of the Anti-Seismic Planning and Protection Agency, Professor of Geology and Geo-environment Efthymis Lekkas and a team of scientists from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, who had earlier inspected the site of the landslide.

In statements to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA), Lekkas said the landslide was caused by a combination of factors, including the morphology of the land, minor seismic activity, intense rainfall and the geology of the landscape. It was an area prone to landslides, which have also occurred in the past, he pointed out.

"At this moment we are investigating both on the ground and with two aerial drones to explore all parameters of the phenomenon. Armed with our first basic scientific estimates we delineated the area that is at a possibly high risk of additional landslides. In the period that follows we will be able to talk with greater certainty about what must be done," he said.