The Lesvos Geopark organizes a variety of information and education activities for disaster risk reduction, throughout the year. These actions are aimed at organized groups of visitors, associations, schools, universities as well as individual visitors who are invited to participate in special events organized on special events, conferences and on the International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction.
In the frame of the undergraduate and postgraduate academic programs, the Lesvos Geopark in collaboration with the University of the Aegean and universities from different parts of the world, organizes special thematic field trips, in areas affected by strong earthquakes and in active and seismic faults of Lesvos.
The tour of the thematic route of the tectonic geosites of the Lesvos Geopark is one of the most important activities, as the participants have the opportunity to acquire useful information about the seismic risk, the geotectonic framework and the active seismicity of the Aegean region. The impressive tectonic geosites are an outdoor laboratory, giving the opportunity to study the active processes of our planet.
More specifically, the participants visit the active faults of Geras Bay and learn about the recent and historical seismicity of Lesvos, the fault zone of Geras Bay and the Larsos active fault. On the fault surface of the Larsos fault, which exceeds 200 meters, they can discuss about the hazard and the protective measures to reduce landslides and also issues of mapping active faults.
One of the most representative tectonic geosite is the active fault of Agia Paraskevi. It is a dextral strike-slip fault associated with the catastrophic M=6.5 earthquake that destroyed the area in 1867.
In the area of Achladeri, the continuation of the great fault of Agia Paraskevi is observed, which is connected to a strong earthquake that caused the sinking of the ancient city of Pyrra.
In the area of Vryssa and Vatera, participants can understand the effects of the great earthquake that hit the area on June 12, 2017. More specifically, visits are made to the settlements of Vasilika and Vrisa, which suffered serious damage, and they have the opportunity to discuss protection measures, the anti-seismic construction.
The Vatera fault affects the recent deposits of the Vatera basin and participants have the opportunity to study the movement and the throw of the fault and observe the tectonic terraces in the landscape of the area.