Firefighters in Greece are trying to contain 82 forest fires across the country, 64 of which erupted on Sunday. The country remains gripped by extreme heat, which is helping to fuel the disaster.
The total number of locals and tourists evacuated due to the fires is approaching 30,000. At the same time, authorities say there is no serious danger to holidaymakers on the Greek islands.
In addition to Rhodes, fires also broke out on the islands of Euboea and Corfu. Authorities in Corfu believe the cause may have been deliberate arson.
The Fire of Corfu, ed. Mediapool
Chariton Koutskouris, Corfu’s Deputy Mayor for Tourism and Construction, said that “a bunch of people are to blame” about what happened.
On Sunday night, about 2.5 thousand people were evacuated from the island by sea – coast guard ships and nearby private vessels participated in the operation.
On the island of Euboea, authorities evacuated residents of four southern villages to the western town of Karistos.
The climate crisis is already here, manifesting itself in ever greater disasters
We are “at war” with the fires that have been burning for more than a week in Greece and have forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate, Greece’s prime minister has saidKyriakos Mitsotakis before the parliament.
“For the next few weeks we must be on constant alert. We are at war, we will restore what we have lost, we will compensate those who have suffered”he said, quoted by Reuters.
“The climate crisis is already here, it will manifest itself everywhere in the Mediterranean with greater disasters”the prime minister said.
Fire danger remains elevated, especially for the wider region around Athens, the Peloponnese peninsula and numerous islands in the Aegean Sea, Greece’s Civil Defense warned.
Mitsotakis thanked all the people who helped put out the fires across the country in recent days.
According to him, the fact that there are no victims in the fires in several regions is a consequence of the efforts of the firefighters, the Civil Defense services, the Coast Guard and the volunteers. He warned that the situation in the next few days will continue to be dangerous.
Airplanes and helicopters of the fire services were sent this morning to all the fires, Civil Defense informed.
Due to the fire on the island of Rhodes, tourists were evacuated, EPA/BGNES
Teams from Turkey and Egypt were sent to reinforce the Greek firefighting teams. Strong winds continue to fuel the flames, a fire brigade spokesman said.
The first fires broke out near the capital Athens last Monday amid a heat wave and strong winds.
Tour operators have sent nearly 1,500 tourists back home as the island’s mass evacuation begins Rhodes on Monday, Reuters reported. Officials said the threat of new fires is high in almost all regions of the country.
Ryanair said on Monday that its flights to and from Rhodes were operating normally and that it was monitoring the situation. The airline’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said Ryanair had not encountered passengers wanting to cancel flights to Rhodes over the weekend, given that the fires were more in the south of the island and the airport and most resorts in the north.
Is it getting colder?
For the first time in two weeks, meteorologists in Greece are predicting a cooling of the weather from Thursday.
Temperatures are expected to drop to around 35 degrees, which is the normal temperature for this time of year. On Sunday, 46.4 degrees were measured in the southern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. This is the fourth highest temperature ever recorded in Greece.
Before the expected cool-down, one last hot day is expected with temperatures reaching 46 degrees on Wednesday, according to forecasters.
The cooling will be a result of strong northerly winds and the Civil Defense has warned that this could lead to the spread of forest fires.
2500 people were safely evacuated from Fr. Corfu
On island CorfuV the northwestern part of the country, the fire was brought under control on Monday. Last night, the local authorities took preventive measures to evacuate 1,000 tourists and 1,500 local residents. Coast Guard boats brought people to safety.
A wave of solidarity from locals to tourists
The fire of Rhodes burning for the seventh day in a row. About 20,000 people from the south-east of the island were evacuated in one of the largest human evacuation operations in Greece.
Thousands of tourists, forced by the fires to evacuate from the hotels where they were staying on the island, were transferred to gyms and schools, and many of them have already left Rhodes, the Greek agency ANA-MPA reported for BTA, which also reports on the huge wave of solidarity and support from the island’s residents.
Around 8,000 tourists were accommodated in schools and courtyards in the city and in the villages of Rhodes with the help of hundreds of volunteerswho from the very beginning stepped in to help set up and manage these temporary accommodation centers, providing foreign tourists with the best possible service.
Those affected by the fires received food, fruit, juices, water, provided by Greek citizens, private individuals who opened their businesses and sent the necessary products, and supermarkets and minimarkets also joined the campaign.
Dozens of companies offered food in their restaurants and even a place to sleep for the tourists. Hotels have accommodated fire victims in air-conditioned rooms, and dozens of Greek citizens have offered their own homes to people in need of shelter.
Benefits for employees of companies
Aid of 534 euros per month for a period of up to three months will be provided to employees of companies that were forced to close due to the fires in Greece, Labor Minister Adonis Georgiadis announced in an interview with the Action 24 media.
“We have already introduced an amendment to the bill of the Ministry of Finance, according to which the businesses that were affected by the fires and cannot carry out their activities as before will be closed for up to three months. During this period, the workers will receive 534 euros per month as emergency aid from the state,” the minister pointed out.
“There is no chance that the state will leave someone without help. We have proven this for all four years. We continue in the same way. I don’t want anyone to worry,” added Georgiadis.
The ruling center-right New Democracy party won parliamentary elections on June 25, and prime minister Kyraikos Mitsotakis was given a new four-year term as head of government.
Duty direct phone: +30 210 67 48 107;
Telephones on duty outside working hours: +30 210 67 48 105, 106, 107;
Emergency mobile number: +30 693 70 96 220.
Or by e-mail: [email protected]
Foreign citizens in need of assistance can contact the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the following telephone numbers: +30 2103681730, +30 2103681259 and +30 2103681350.
