Eureka! Institutional Repository

Natural disasters, such as earthquakes or floods, are sudden and unexpected events which have negative repercussions when they happen. On the 12th of June in 2017 a lethal earthquake destroyed the village of Vrissa on the island of Lesvos almost completely. There was also major damage in all the nearby areas. As a result of the earthquake, the primary and nursery school building in Vrissa totally collapsed and there was serious damage in the primary and nursery school building in Polichnitos. The principals of these schools had to deal with the crisis that was created by the earthquake. This research aims at analyzing the way in which the principals coped with all the issues concerning the school community (teachers, students and parents). The findings of this research ascertain that the schools had made all the necessary preparations to deal with a crisis that could be caused by an earthquake. All the schools had been appropriately prepared since they had at their disposal a plan and crisis management groups. The plan and the crisis management groups functioned effectively during the earthquake. However, when the schools opened, although there were attempts by the state to relocate the schools temporarily and staff them, no other action was taken on behalf of the state to help principals and teachers to deal with this unprecedented situation. Psychologists were not sent to the schools and the staff did not receive any special training on how to cope with the situation. Principals and teachers were forced to rely on their own personal knowledge and their willingness to help each other. They used any means they had to deal with the problems regarding the organization and management of the school, as well as the psychological trauma that themselves and the students had experienced. There was a considerable number of teachers who worked at these schools for the first time or who were not permanently employed there, as well as inadequate knowledge on crisis management and coping with psychological traumas. Even though there were attempts to handle the post-traumatic stress problems the students experienced, a considerable percentage of teachers had difficulty locating these problems. In relation to the posttraumatic stress the students experienced, the percentage found was very small compared to similar cases. To conclude, emphasis must be placed on the fact that the state needs to play a more important role in dealing with the problems that derive from similar crises, mainly by staffing schools with psychologists and by regularly training teachers on matters of crisis management