In 1953 after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake totally devastated most of the Ionian Islands, he offered substantial sums of money to families who suffered the most damage, as well as acting as an intermediate for the humanitarian aid offered to Greece by the Scandinavian countries, in response to one of Greece's worst natural disaster in centuries. The village of Evgeniko in Thrace was also renamed in his honor, after he provided for its crucial water supply.