The Greek government declared Tuesday, January 25, a public holiday for the public and private sector due to the extreme snow weather conditions. The public holiday is valid in six regions in central and south Greece.
Climate Crisis and Civil Protection minister Christos Stylianides announced late on Monday that the public holiday is for the regions of Attica, Evia and Sporades, Viotia, Cyclades,Crete and Dodecanese.
🔈 Ενημέρωση για αργία αύριο Τρίτη 25/1
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— Civil Protection GR (@GSCP_GR) January 24, 2022
In the Regions of Attica and South Aegean, in the prefectures of Viotia, Evia, Cyclades, Sporades and Crete, a state of special mobilization of civil protection is declared for tomorrow, Tuesday 25 January 2022, due to a warning for increased risk of natural disasters and catastrophic events.
In particular, the operation of all public services is suspended, with the exception of the services of the A ‘and B’ degree local authorities, the armed forces and security forces, the public health structures and other services whose operation is necessary for the management of the phenomenon at the discretion of head of units, media report.
In these areas, there will be no education facility in operation (no online classes in public and private education either), neither nurseries, kindergartens, children’s creative centers, creative centers for children and people with disabilities and day care centers.
The operation of private businesses is also suspended, except for grocery stores, pharmacies and other health facilities, petrol stations and other business that operate on holidays as well as businesses whose operation helps to address the effects of bad weather.
What will apply to schools
As announced by the Ministry of Education due to the announcement of a general holiday, there will be no e-learning tomorrow, Tuesday 25 January, in the areas where schools remain closed by decision of the Local Government due to bad weather, as there will be no administrative staff for the technical support of e-learning.
In unaffected areas, schools will operate normally.
Regarding the self tests, the Ministry of Education announced that they will not be conducted in areas with closed schools. Relevant instructions will be given by the ministry for the self-test program this week in these areas.
Meanwhile, the army has been mobilized to evacuate dozens of motorists who have been stranded in snow, many of them for hours, on the Attica Odos motorway circling Athens.
Snow weather front ELPIS left hundreds of people stranded, households without electricity and the usual chaos every winter when there is snow fall.
How much snow fell, exactly? I’m always amazed at the chaos snow causes. Yes, I expect it to be horrible in the mountains, remote villages, areas that are hard to access even in the best of times.
In Toronto we had 55cm of snow fall on January 17 and another 10 fell yesterday (January 24). Our streets are a mess, but at 55cm, that’s to be expected. The MAJOR roads were plowed within 24 hours. The side streets – eh. But slowly things are being tackled. And Toronto streets are narrow – not wide so every side street looks like navigating through mountains. Here’s a couple of picture, but my mother’s street would be more indicative.
http://beachmetro.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/web-Enderby-snow-0118.jpg
http://spacing.ca/toronto/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2022/01/Snow-storm-Jan-2022_1247-600×450.jpeg
here it takes a bucket of rain or a truck of snow and we’re lost because Greece’s state suffers from the chronicdisease of incompetence.
Easy to criticise ,
Greece is not Canada ,
Please have a heart ,
hard to have a heart as a resident of this country & city. every few months there is a disaster: fires, floods, earthquakes and in winter 1-2 days snow and people’s lives always at risk.
Greece is a beautiful country but sometimes victim of its own geography. That being said, this is all known so emergency response should be well organized and be able to respond in time.
In Western Europe it is not always functioning properly either. See, the floods in Germany last year where 150 people died and whole villages and infrastructure were swept away. There was enough early warning but the authorities failed to act. The same happened in Bosnia and Serbia in 2014. How come? Because people cannot grasp the scale of the projected disaster. They simply can’t imagine. People always hope for the best and think everything will be alright. Plus, authorities are afraid to frighten people and to spend a lot of money on something that “could turn out not so bad”. But the costs of inaction are always higher than the cost of action.
In Greece it also has to do with people are appointed because of political connections. So you don’t get the right man or woman or the right place.
People should also be aware that disaster can be bad. People think things won’t turn out bad so they take unnecessary and dangerous risks.
It start with a culture of awareness.
True, Greece is not Canada. And I wish, sometimes, that I lived in Greece. But sometimes I am happy I live where I do.
It’s not that we didn’t have chaos – it WAS 55 cm (and more since) and we are still digging out. What amazes me is the expectation that the government will take care of everything.
By law, we have to have our sidewalks shoveled (unless told otherwise) 24 hours after the snow stops falling. We are told otherwise when the government says that the sidewalk plows will plow.
We, too, have flooding in the city of Toronto, every year now. Fires, not so much unless house fires.
I DO have a heart and feel sorry for those without power (happened here too in some parts of the city) and for those who are shut in (the elderly mostly who cannot shovel themselves out) and I laugh at those who persist in keeping all season tires on their cars. They are going to pass a law soon to make winter tires mandatory – and they still don’t stop you from sliding!
But, in the end, you know the weather conditions where you live and you should be prepared for them. A shovel and some road salt don’t ask for food and water as my father used to say.
KTG, even here in the north of Europe where we ought to be used to “heavy” snowfall the preparations are weak! 10-15 cm of snow and the streets are jammed! The state just cant afford to keep maintenace at a high level, or they just think it costs to much!
The busses will remain stoped??
honestly, I don’t know. public transport operates on weekend mode on Wed