Vassilis Kikilias

Crete launched an earthquake protection exercise to identify and address potential errors, omissions and deficiencies in any response to an emergency.

Named "Minoas," it has been touted as the largest-scale seismic protection drill in Greece.

A broad meeting was held on Monday at the Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Ministry, chaired by the minister, Vassilis Kikilias, to address ways of coping with extreme weather. 

Vassilis Kikilias, minister of climate crisis and civil protection, informed road operators on Wednesday that the government will close highways if necessary due to extreme weather conditions.

The death toll from storm Daniel that began battering central Greece on Monday rose to 10 on Friday while four people were still missing, according to Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias.

Ten people have died so far because of the storm 'Daniel' in central Greece, Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said on Friday, while another four are still missing in Volos and Mt. Pilio.

Greek firefighters recovered the body of a man from a stream in central Greece on Thursday, bringing the country's death toll from floods to four after severe rainstorms turned streets into raging torrents, hurled cars into the sea and washing away roads and bridges. Another six people were missing.

The heavy rainfall caused by Storm Daniel is expected to increase once again in the early hours of Wednesday morning before abating from noon, Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Vassilis Kikilias has warned, citing meteorologists' forecasts.

Kikilias appealed to residents in Magnesia to avoid all travel and follow the instructions of the authorities while the storm persists.

Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias is asking regional authorities to make anti-erosion and anti-flood works a top priority following this year's damaging wildfires.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will chair a meeting on Tuesday morning to assess the scale of the destruction by the hundreds of wildfires that have ravaged Greece and discuss the restoration of forests, mainly in the northeastern region of Evros and Mount Parnitha in Attica, the areas that suffered the worst.

Fire department officials in Greece arrested two men Saturday for allegedly deliberately setting fires, while hundreds of firefighters battled wildfires that have killed at least 21 people in the past week.