Supervisors info:
Δρ. Λέκκας Ευθύμιος, Καθηγ. ΕΚΠΑ, Τμήμα Γεωλογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Δρ. Λόζιος Στυλιανός, Επικ. Καθηγ. ΕΚΠΑ, Τμήμα Γεωλογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Δρ. Κράνης Χαράλαμπος, Επικ. Καθηγ. ΕΚΠΑ, Τμήμα Γεωλογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Μαρτζάκλης Βασίλειος, Υποψήφιος διδάκτωρ του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών
Summary:
A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the earth such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis and other geological processes. A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property. Also, it can cause some serious economic damage. The severity of the damage depends on the affected population’s resilience and on the infrastructure available.A technological disaster is a catastrophic event that is caused by either human error in controlling technology or a malfunction of a technology system. Technology based disasters are as serious as natural. Sometimes, the disaster symptoms may gradually appear over a long period of time, but other impacts may immediately disrupt society.A crisis is any event that is going to lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, community or whole society. They are deemed to be negative changes in the security, economic, societal or environmental affairs.Civil protection was created to deal with natural and technological disasters. In some countries of the world civil protection –civil defense is a key factor of defense. It is way to protect society and business from natural or technological disasters and crisis. Civil defense uses the principles of emergency operations such as prevention, mitigation, preparation, response and recoveryCivil protection established in Greece in 1995.Civil protection in Greece plans and coordinates actions to prevent and deal with natural, technological disasters and crises. It also informs the society for those issues.The Army Forces and especially Land Forces have an important role to play in dealing with natural disasters. The Army Forces contribute to deal with disasters and crises through a Civil Protection’s plan, which is called XENOKRATIS. Army has specialized personnel and material. Also, it has special units with the unique mission of dealing with disasters and crises.Army Corps of Engineers have the most important rolein dealing with disasters. This happens because Army Corps of Engineers have:❖special vehicles and machinery❖bridge construction material❖explosives❖boatsAs a result it has a significant social contribution.The Army acts in plan XENOKRATIS when requested from Civil Protection. However, this should not reduce their operational workload.In the first chapter, reference is made to basic terms relating to natural disasters. So development and humanitarian actioncan be understood in the case of natural disasters.Disaster management is eliminated n 3 stages:
10❖phase of development❖impact phase❖phase of responseThe second chapter highlights the contribution of specialized military units in dealing with disasters and crises. They can intervene swiftly and immediately both internally and externally. Also Army Forces have sophisticated staff and resources to deal with disasters. For example, 747 special engineer battalion deals with natural and technologicaldisastersand some units of Hellenic air force are specialized to fire fighting.The role of Civil Protection and plan XENOKRATIS is discussed in Chapter 3. The plan XENOKRATIS is directly linked to the army and is separate for each area as needed. The role of the Armed Forced in each country is different, but in all cases they help society deal with disasters.The chapter number 4 highlights the role of army corps of engineers, which is very important in peace and war.In Greece, army corps of engineers has increased and improved its social contribution to such an extent that sometimesreplaces other services.Chapter number 5 deals with the capabilities of the Army in dealing with disasters in different countries of the world. Some countries have created military engineer units to deal with disasters. The EuroAtlantic Disaster Response is NATOS’s civil emergency response mechanism in the Euro –Atlantic area. The center function as a clearing –house system for coordinating both requests and offers of assistance in case of a natural or technological disaster.The chapter number 6 highlights the significant social contribution of army corps of engineers. More specifically reporting events from 2008 to 2008.Some of the missions that army corps of engineers can take are:❖fighting forest fires❖search and rescue❖EOD incidents❖ConstructionsFrom 2008 to 2018, it is concluded the effective use of military personnel and means in a lot of cases of direct intervention and aid to operations dealing with natural, technological disasters and crises throughout Greece.In thefinal chapter we can see positives and negative facts from the army’s involvement in the plan XENOKRATIS. Finally I suggest ways that can improve the role of army forces in the plan.The plan needs to be improved so that the army forces can help the society to deal with disasters and crises. However, the main mission of army forces is not the protection from disasters.The main mission is to safeguard country’s defense
Keywords:
natural disasters, disaster management, Army forces, army corps of engineer, plan XENOKRATIS, Civil Protection
