Palaio Faliro: VR earthquake management training for educators

The Municipality of Palaio Faliro, through its Civil Protection department, is organizing from Tuesday 29 September to Friday 2 October 2026 an educational program for simulating earthquake management in a virtual environment, aimed at educators in the municipality’s schools. The program includes all 80 teachers of primary and secondary education in Palaio Faliro, the entire body of educational staff in the municipality’s school units.

The training is conducted using virtual reality technology, through which educators become familiar with civil protection procedures in the event of an earthquake, without requiring an actual evacuation exercise within school buildings. This method allows the repetition of crisis management scenarios in a controlled digital environment, something that would not be easily feasible with traditional readiness exercises within actual school buildings. The municipality has scheduled an official presentation of the program on Wednesday 30 September at 10:00. The initiative is part of a series of actions by the municipality for public safety and infrastructure, as well as infrastructure works that have been announced for the storm drainage network of the area.

The participation of all educators in the municipality’s schools, and not a selected sample, means that training in earthquake management procedures will reach all school units of primary and secondary education in Palaio Faliro. For families of students in the area, the initiative means that educational staff will have passed through common training in civil protection protocols before the full progression of the school year. The use of virtual reality technology differentiates the program from traditional readiness exercises, as it allows the simulation of scenarios without disrupting the normal operation of schools during the training period. Unified training of all staff also facilitates uniform implementation of the same civil protection protocols in all school units in the municipality, regardless of size or education level.

The program is completed on Friday 2 October, with its official presentation preceding it on 30 September, in the interim of the training duration. The municipality has not announced whether the virtual reality program will be extended to other groups, such as students or parents, beyond the educational staff participating in the current phase, nor whether it will be repeated on a regular basis in the coming school years. The four-day duration of the program allows the distribution of the 80 educators into smaller groups, so that training with virtual reality technology is conducted without disrupting the daily operation of the municipality’s school units. It has also not been clarified whether the virtual reality equipment and materials used in the training will remain available to the municipality’s schools even after the program’s completion on 2 October.