On 6 and 7 October 2026, the Prep2Shelter team carried out a field mission in Thessaly, Greece. The team met with regional Civil Protection authorities, visited affected areas and shelter sites, and gathered lessons from the 2021 Thessaly seismic sequence and 2023 Storm Daniel.
Following the first stakeholder workshop in Athens, the Prep2Shelter team travelled to Larissa and the wider Thessaly region to connect the project's discussions with real disaster experiences.
Thessaly provides an important case study for Prep2Shelter, having experienced the Elassona seismic sequence in March 2021 and Storm Daniel and associated flooding in September 2023. Both events had significant impacts on the region and resulted in the displacement of people.
During the field mission, the team met with Civil Protection authorities from the Prefecture of Thessaly and heard from researchers and practitioners about the impacts of the two events and the response that followed. Discussions covered earthquake and flood impacts, damage to transport infrastructure, multi-hazard monitoring, emergency planning and coordination.
Particular attention was given to emergency shelter activation, including the timeline of the response, shelter locations and capacity, as well as the current recovery situation and outstanding needs. The team also explored coordination between regional, national and EU-level actors.
The field mission included visits to the Village of Damasi and shelter sites affected by the disasters. These visits provided an opportunity to observe site conditions and management arrangements and to better understand the practical challenges of providing emergency shelter.
The team also conducted group discussions with people displaced by the 2021 Thessaly seismic sequence, focusing on their experiences of shelter conditions, community support, access to essential services, re-housing and recovery. Listening to affected people provided an important perspective on sheltering that complements information from authorities and technical assessments.
The field mission reinforced several lessons for Prep2Shelter: shelter planning needs to anticipate different hazards, consider the characteristics and capacity of potential sites, address the needs of displaced populations, and support coordination throughout the response and recovery process.
The knowledge gathered in Thessaly will contribute to the development of the Prep2Shelter multicriteria methodology and decision-support tool, helping DRM practitioners assess shelter options and make better-informed decisions before and during future emergencies.
Access our website to know more: https://prep2shelter.lnec.pt/1st-prep2shelter-workshop-and-field-missio…
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