Greece: lull on the front of the Evia fires, concern in the Peloponnese

Nearly 900 Greek and foreigners firefighters seemed to "take slowly taking control" of the fire that ravages the Greek island of Evée is slowly taking on Wednesday and redoubled for efforts to overcome a worrying fire in the Peloponnesis.

"Yesterday we saw the sun for the first time in days," said Yiannis Kontzias, the mayor of the city of Istiaia, on Wednesday on the island of Ebée, threatened by the blaze.

"I think we can say" that we are "taking control of the firefront" of Eué, he said slowly, he said on public television ERT.

The precipitation expected in the evening on the Peloponnese could relieve firefighters in their fight against the flames that worry the region of Arcadia, thick forests and deep ravines.

According to Christos Lambropoulos, deputy governor of the partial arcadie region, the emergency services concentrate their efforts to prevent the fire from reaching Mount Menale.

"We believe that the front exceeds ten km," he told the private skai tv channel.

- evacuated villages -

About twenty villages were evacuated to the advance of the flames.

Throughout the region, nearly 580 firefighters, including 139 French, fought relentlessly against fire.

Faced with the magnitude of the disaster, many European countries, sent more than 1.200 reinforcements, vehicles and equipment.

Three people died in fires that ravaged more than 90.000 hectares in Greece since July 29, according to the European Information Information System (Effis), and led to the flight of thousands of inhabitants.

In eight days, 586 fires were counted in Greece, fueled by the worst heat wave in three decades in a Mediterranean country, however customary summer heat, according to the Deputy Minister of Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias.

The environmental assessment is catastrophic.Symbol of this ecological tragedy: an olive tree of 2.500 years burned in Evée, according to the daily Kathimerini.

On this immense island east of Athens, "the entire eco-system is destroyed", alarmed a Red Cross manager Dimitris Haliotis.

French firefighters, deployed in Greece, also testified to the immense damage.

"When we arrived (...) We had the impression that it was whole Greece that burned, "testified to AFP Nicolas Faure while Colonel Frédéric Gosse deplored the" cursed cocktail "which caused these fires:" temperatures much higher than40 degrees, several months without rain and strong winds ".

Experts unequivocally connect this scorching wave to climate change.A UN preliminary report, to which AFP had access, qualifies the Mediterranean periphery of "hot spot of climate change".

Faced with this "natural disaster with unprecedented proportions", Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the release of aid of 500 million euros.

- Anger -

This did not prevent the anger of political leaders and inhabitants, who feel abandoned to their fate, to swell.

Voices are rising to request the resignation of senior officials responsible for the rescue who, in June, still assured that the country was well prepared for such a scourge.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis even asked for forgiveness from the Greeks for the "possible errors" made when a vast movement of solidarity of the population with the collection of clothing and the sending of food to the victims has been committed.

In addition to the destruction of hundreds of dwellings and a hard blow to Greek forests, the economy of Evia is disaster.

"We lost the month of August, who would have supported people for the coming year," said Mayor Yiannis Kontzias.

The president of the local hotel federation, Theodoros Roumelotis, deplored a vertiginous fall of 90% of reservations in the seaside resort of Aidipsos which usually refuel during this period.

In a sector already heavily affected by the pandemic of Covid-19, "it is a colossal loss," he told AFP.

Collapsed and helpless, the inhabitants could only note the extent of the destruction.

"I fled to save myself," says Rita, 65, in her car filled with bags.His house in the hamlet of Kastri has partially burned."Life was here.I have no more tears, "laments the retiree.