Zekkos leads GEER mission for Medicane Ianos
Published on December 14, 2020
Figure from GEER Report: Collapsed multi-span RC bridge on E.O. Argostoliou-Fiskardou.
Dimitrios Zekkos, associate professor at UC Berkeley, led a Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) mission to document damage from Medicane Ianos. Medicane Ianos, a Mediterranean Hurricane, impacted Greece on September 17-20, 2020.
During Medicane Ianos, the amount of precipitation during a duration of about 48 hours was among the highest recorded and exceeded, in certain areas, the mean annual precipitation. The extent of the affected area was very large and encompassed western, central and southern Greece, all the way south to the island of Crete. The Ionian islands and the areas around Karditsa and Lamia in Central Greece were particularly affected.
A total of 31 participants from 6 Universities, 3 governmental organizations and 3 companies participated in the effort. The GEER report documents thousands of landslides, bridge collapses and instances of infrastructure damage.
For photos and to download the GEER report, read the FULL STORY.