Rhodes Residents Seeking Gov't Aid to Overcome Effects of Massive Wildfires
06:07 GMT 04.08.2023 (Updated: 06:19 GMT 04.08.2023)
© AFP 2023 / Spyros Bakalis
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HERAKLION (Sputnik) - The Greek island of Rhodes has been dealing with the negative consequences of the huge wildfires that raged in the region in July, with local residents telling Sputnik they urgently need government assistance to restore the environment, support the island's economy and prevent the repetition of such a disaster in the future.
"The situation is not good. At the moment, there are still efforts by the authorities to record all the disaster in detail and to see how big is the damage on the environment as well as on the properties," Giannis, a resident of a village in Rhodes, said.
Islanders voiced serious concerns over the destructive impact of the wildfires on the nature of Rhodes, its exceptional flora and fauna, noting with regret that the damage could in no way be fixed quickly.
23 July 2023, 12:13 GMT
"Many thousand acres of beautiful forests were burned to the fire and it will take many years for this forest to recover," Nikoletta, a 47-year-old volunteer firefighter, told Sputnik.
Giannis, for his part, stressed that this enormous harm to the local environment also meant a major blow to the island's economy and, in particular, its agricultural business.
"We really hope on state support, as it is important for us in order to deal with all the damage caused. Especially in our area, which is a mountain village, most of the people are working in agriculture and the fire in the nearby fields was a big destruction for us," he said.
Meanwhile, Nikos, a 56-year-old cafe owner in the city of Rhodes, said that although the situation with tourism, which the island's economy depends on, was "not bad," the sector was also in dire need of the government's help after mass evacuations of foreigners from the region, especially given that the industry had faced serious difficulties even before the wildfires due to high inflation.
"We were trying to generate profit with difficulties already, with high prices ... And the fires maximized this problem, as many people left the island immediately after the fires and, from what I know, many canceled [their trips] as well," the islander told Sputnik.
However, many tourists are already gradually returning to the island, Nikos added, while expressing hope that Rhodes would be able to resume the touristic season and save some of the economic cost the fires had created.
At the same time, Nikos stressed that it was vital for the Greek authorities not only to provide help to businesses suffered, but also to take all possible measures to avoid a repetition of such a disaster in the future.
"First of all, we need more airplanes and helicopters. This was very important in this fire here. Because of the location, which was in-between mountains, it was impossible for fire trucks to reach the fire, so all effort in taking out the flames was done by airplanes. It would be nice if we could have planes here standing by to protect the island from the fires," Nikos told Sputnik.
As an example of planes Greece needs to fight the disaster, the islander called Russia's Beriev Be-200 amphibious aircraft that he saw successfully helping to put out fires in Athens several years ago by transferring large amounts of water.
"I am sure that if we had more of those and other airplanes that put out the fires we wouldn't have all these problems with fires every summer," he said.
An unprecedented heat wave hit Greece last month, causing a temperature rise up to more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and igniting multiple fires across the country. Huge wildfires started on the island of Rhodes on July 18 and raged for 10 days, prompting mass evacuations of local residents and tourists.
2 August 2021, 09:08 GMT
Following the disaster, the Greek government pledged to introduce several measures to support residents and businesses. The list includes direct financing, infrastructure restoration, compensations, as well as advertising campaigns to reestablish the island's tourist appeal.
