Eviction orders issued for 25 homes in Pissouri

Eviction orders have been issued for 25 more homes in Pissouri, made unsafe for habitation after years of land slippage, the community leader told MPs on Thursday.

Lazaros Lazarou also said that, while government departments decide how to deal with the problem in the area in a holistic way, drainage works will take place as a partial fix.

Currently new studies are underway to ascertain the precise nature of the landslide. The studies should be completed in six months.

In parliament, director of the Geological Survey Department Christodoulos Hadjigeorgiou said the latest surveys in the area show that “the problem is far worse than initially assessed.”

He said that the last drills carried out found gypsum at a depth of 60 metres. They also detected a void at 100 metres – which heightens suspicions that the phenomenon is far more extensive than previously thought.

The department intends to gather all the necessary geological data within the six-month timeframe before authorities undertake any new projects in the community – known as Phase 2.

Elikkos Elia, permanent secretary at the interior ministry, said the six-month period is meant to show whether Phase 2 as previously planned out may continue, or whether different corrective works need to be done.

The geological phenomenon affecting Pissouri is developing in a way different to that previously thought, as a second problematic area has been identified.

He stressed that the Phase 2 works won’t go ahead unless and until the situation has been properly identified – because acting now based on a wrong diagnosis won’t fix the problem.

Speaking to journalists later, Lazarou said it was recently decided to carry out drills to remove groundwater as well as wastewater from the affected area.

He expressed satisfaction with the fact with these moves, but that did not mean it solved the problem as a whole.

“Every day that goes by counts for the local residents,” he added.

The community leader stressed the need for the government to support people who lost their homes and got evicted.

“These people, no matter what the solution, will always be without a home.”

Lazarou also criticised government moves so far, saying that “in a bid to shirk responsibility, for several years government departments said that it was the fault of the architects and engineers – but it turned out that this is a natural disaster.”

For his part, Greens MP Giorgos Papadouris said the state must do more to help people affected by the land slippage.

People who have had to leave their homes in Pissouri get a rent allowance of €2,500 a year – not a lot, especially under current circumstances.

Since 2012, property owners in the Limnes area of Pissouri have seen gaping cracks appear in interior and exterior walls, making their homes uninhabitable, swimming pools destroyed and roads buckle and split apart.

Pavements, footpaths, retaining walls, drains, water pipes and other infrastructure works have all been badly damaged.