Professor Tselentis resigns from Seismic Risk Assessment Committee

Professor Akis Tselentis, a seismologist and former director of the Geodynamics Institute of the National Observatory of Athens, on Tuesday submitted his resignation from the National Seismic Risk Assessment Committee, in a letter to the committee's president Professor Efthymios Lekkas and to Secretary General for Civil Protection Vasilis Papageorgiou, which he also posted on social media.

In the letter, Tselentis said the reason for his resignation was that he could "not accept the political leadership arbitrarily imposing the participation in the [seismic risk committee's] meetings of additional members without this having been published in the Government Gazette."

"We are a committee elected using scientific criteria, who represent our organisations that are in the Government Gazette. Such political interventions devalue our role," he added.

Commenting on his resignation, sources within the climate crisis and civil protection ministry responded: "The composition and operation of the Seismic Risk Committee, as that of the Committee for Monitoring the Greek Volcanic Arc, is absolutely legal and have as their chief criteria the scientific and thorough examination of the phenomena and, following this, the fullest and most accurate provision of information to the citizens. We will not go into or comment on anything beyond that. The personal agendas of every person, at such a time, should not be anyone's concern."

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