A year on from Greek wildfires, locals are skeptical lessons have been learned – POLITICO

But although life is beginning to return, the locals have little hope that grand guarantees of financial regeneration made within the hearth’s aftermath will probably be totally stored. And they have even much less confidence their authorities has learned what it should to do to stop such disasters in future.

The ongoing menace is evident. Earlier this month, firefighters struggled to maintain below management one more hearth, which was raging within the heart of Evia. Kremasto, a village of round 150 inhabitants, needed to be evacuated.

And past Greece, the early summer time heatwave throughout Europe has fueled wildfires in Germany, the place round round 20 villages had to be evacuated south of Berlin, and Spain, the place greater than 600 firefighters battled a blaze within the Sierra de la Culebra mountain vary.

Back on Evia, Greece’s second largest island, the shock from the fireplace continues to be uncooked.

“There continues to be plenty of anger and rage,” mentioned Vaggelis Georgantzis, head of the resin producers union, who spoke to POLITICO within the aftermath of the blaze in August 2021.

“It’s troublesome to conceive what occurred, they let the fireplace burn till it reached the ocean. I get up within the morning and for a second I nonetheless count on to see the forest, after which actuality kicks in — and despair and resentment,” he added.

In the wake of the destruction, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis vowed to “rebuild northern Evia better and more beautiful than it was” and pledged a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of euros for reconstruction.

Georgantzis together with some 700 resin producers will subsequent month begin working within the forest on reforestation, flood safety and different tasks. The 7-year authorities program was supposed to begin in January and has been delayed, whereas no particular coaching has but been designed for the employees.

But although the restoration program is welcome, in addition to the truth that it should last more than initially anticipated, he’s nonetheless fearful concerning the longer-term future. Some youthful colleagues that had no household have already left the island. “If they stayed here till they were 35 or 40 they would get screwed like us,” mentioned Georgantzis.

Government compensation for hearth losses has additionally been inconsistent, partially resulting from the truth that most of the native farmers and shepherds did not have the mandatory licensing or paperwork. “I haven’t received a single euro from the state,” mentioned 61-year-old shepherd Michalis Tachtsoglou, who is likely one of the fortunate ones that managed to save lots of his animals — although shacks for sheltering the animals had been destroyed and his land scorched.

“They promised money, money, tons of money. Where are they? They say my shack wasn’t built with bricks [so wasn’t eligible] … They abandoned us.”

Also a part of the financial revival effort was a five-day movie pageant earlier this month, in addition to subsidies for tourism. There can also be the promise of a number of infrastructure tasks, together with a 56 kilometer street that may run by the northern a part of the island ending its isolation.

But Yiannis Kontzias, mayor of the city of Istiaia, says that the municipality has not but acquired any money and so the tasks are but to begin. “The island is basically in a state of war and we have to act fast. The reconstruction plan is in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go to make it reality,” he mentioned.

“Ιt is perfectly logical for every mayor to express concern, to address the problems in local communities in the best possible way,” mentioned authorities spokesperson Giannis Oikonomou in response to the mayor’s earlier criticism of the state response.

“Often, in expressing this concern, exaggerations and unfair things are heard. It is both exaggerated and unfair that not a single euro has fallen on Evia or North Evia,” he mentioned, stating that the federal government has already allotted €300 million.

And consultants argue Greece just isn’t doing sufficient to stop future tragedies. A WWF report discovered that 84 % of state expenditure goes on combating wildfires, in contrast with simply 16 % spent on prevention.

With the prospect of an extended sizzling summer time forward, communities nonetheless really feel susceptible. “We’re burned and what we want is for the rest of the country not to get burned,” said Kontzias. “What happened in Evia should be a lesson for everyone.”

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