The earthquake in Turkey and the aftershocks is an event whose magnitude is still rarely seen. But no matter how rare this happens, we must be prepared for this, and our structures must be able to protect human life, may suffer some damage, but not collapse.

In this context, a meaningful and honest public discussion about the level of seismic protection of the country is of particular value. Firstly, we have the majority of buildings (over 70%) before 1985 (the second historically, but the first significant attempt at anti-seismic regulation), i.e. without any special anti-seismic protection.

However, the vast majority of structures to date have withstood many earthquakes. This by no means means that they will withstand the next earthquake, which may be stronger. However, since the problem that exists is so obvious, I will not provide additional data, but will present concrete feasible and directly implementable proposals.

1. Immediate pre-seismic survey of all schools and hospitals built before and after 1985.

2. Exemption from VAT for all studies carried out for the pre-seismic control of existing buildings, and exemption from taxable income for all works provided for by the relevant studies of strengthening buildings.

3. Establishing a rate of 10% of the fines of arbitrators, which will be deducted annually on public and private buildings built before 1985 to strengthen them.

4. Proposal of the Greek government to the EU. to create a European fund to strengthen structures in countries experiencing seismic activity.

Our structures must be able to protect human life, perhaps suffer some damage, but not collapse.

Obviously, if the state shows interest, the Technical Chamber of Greece is ready to indicate a practical way to implement all of the above.

Finally, I would like to highlight two issues.

It makes no sense to increase the energy consumption of buildings by using too many programs and resources without guaranteeing their safety.

In addition, it is impossible to make great efforts for many reasons to issue diplomas and degrees, and then professional rights for teaching, supervising and building in our country to people who do not have scientific competence, and the result of this is the danger to the lives of citizens.

The use of advanced international experience and timely planning are the self-evident choice of every modern state.

Mr. Giorgos Stasinos is the President of the Hellenic Chamber of Tech.