Since yesterday, world seismology has mourned the loss of one of its elite, Professor Vassilis Papazachuwho passed away at the age of 92. From now on, he rests in the arms of the Greek land, the most seismic in all of Eurasia, whose “wraths” and “eruptions” he studied for decades like no one else.

“I have spent two-thirds of my life in cracks. I think I know, and the science of seismology in general knows a lot about the “monster” Enceladus, but not everything we need to tame it … ” interview for “K”.

Until his “soul came out,” he kept shouting, “Short-term earthquake prediction of practical value is still impossible. In other words, we as a science have failed to predict that on such and such a day, at such and such a time there will be a strong earthquake in such and such a place, so that we can tell people to leave their homes. Today’s earthquake protection is the construction of strong, durable buildings with strict anti-seismic standards and regular exercises to prepare the population.

Vassilis Papazakos, who spent decades studying the “monster” Enceladus, “passed away” at the age of 92.

He did not hesitate in difficult moments, such as the earthquake of 6.5 on the Richter scale in Thessaloniki (22 June 1978), when 48 people died, went against fear and, putting forward scientific knowledge, called on the then Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis not evacuate the city, as some advised him. “July 5, 1978, when many Thessalonians returned to their homes (after 6.5 on the Richter scale), an earthquake of magnitude 5 occurred, the epicenter of which was in the western part of the Wolvi fault and was very close to the city,” writes in his book “Journey into the Past” and adds: “Therefore, they suggested that the Prime Minister issue a proclamation recommending the residents to leave the city. Karamanlis called me then and said that he would make an appropriate political decision, but first he wanted to know my opinion. I told him that he should not make such an announcement, because relevant international experience shows that such announcements usually have more serious negative social consequences than the consequences of a large earthquake. I also told him that from the records currently available (the portable seismograph of the Forty Churches), the post-seismic sequence was running smoothly. He decided not to publish the ad.”

Even then, Papazachos refused to leave his apartment on the 6th floor of an apartment building behind the Rotunda. As he described it to me: “It was a terrible phenomenon at night, when the lights went out everywhere in the surrounding buildings, and my own apartment glowed dimly.” In those difficult times, when rumors of a new big earthquake spread through the camps, spreading terror among the victims of the earthquake, there were many who rushed under Papazachos’s apartment in the evenings to see if he had a light in his apartment so they could return. their own.

Vassilis Papazahos received worldwide scientific recognition, and seismology placed him next to his sacred monsters, such as the Russian Sobolev, the Japanese Kanamori, the Romanians Purkaru, and others. He left behind no less than nine scientific books and more than two hundred articles published in authoritative international journals, and the love and respect of all Greece.

The Papazahos man, besides his family and seismology, passionately loved his village Smokovo Karditsa and wanted, being in his glory, to offer more by running for the presidency of the community. He was not elected (!) by his fellow villagers, and this made him unimaginably embittered. Papazachos lost to Smokovo, but he was won by seismology, which he decided to leave for the sake of his village.