December 30, 1954
KARAMANLIS AND IONIAN ISLANDS: The Coordination Council met yesterday to discuss reconstruction on the earthquake-stricken islands of the Ionian Sea on the basis of recommendations by Minister for Transport and Public Works Mr Constantine Karamanlis and the deputy minister, Mr Paparigopoulos. After the meeting, the prime minister, Field Marshal Alexandros Papagos, commenting on the results of an on-site examination of the situation by the ministers, observed that conditions were not suitable for reconstruction to begin in spring as had been planned (…). Therefore it was decided to speed up the rate of work by means of the following measures: an increase in aid funds from 30 to 75 million drachmas, and the immediate construction of 200 workers’s homes in Argostoli and Zakynthos. The Agricultural Bank, instead of the Consignments and Loans Fund, is to handle the job of distributing aid in the form of loans. Mr Karamanlis worked with Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Mr Panayiotis Kanellopoulos, who offered to ensure that two brigades of engineers be installed on the islands by February.
