Aid arrives to help Greece after fires

By JOHN F.L. ROSS, Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece - More international aid arrived Monday in support of massive cleanup and reconstruction efforts in Ancient Olympia and other fire-stricken parts of southern Greece.

The U.S. Embassy in Athens said a six-member team of disaster-relief experts had arrived, including specialists from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Forest Service‘s top firefighter.

Greece‘s Finance Ministry said the European Investment Bank was making a $135 million long-term loan to Greece for reconstruction, with more to come.

Fires continued to burn Monday in the southeastern Peloponnese region.

Officials now fear that downpours could cause flooding and hamper relief efforts in fire-stricken areas.

"The state‘s obligation does not stop with the measures we have taken for the relief of our fellow citizens and the fire-hit regions," Karamanlis said in the southern town of Tripolis.

The government said urgent flood-control measures were under way in fire-devastated regions, and that prefabricated houses were being distributed to people whose houses were burned.

The winged statue of victory stands in front of smoke from fires in the village of ancient Olympia, near the birthplace of the Olympic games, in south-west Greece. A huge effort by firefighters, water-dropping aircraft and fire trucks succeeded in keeping a raging blaze away from the 2,800-year-old site - the holiest sanctuary in ancient Greece
Photograph: Petros Giannakouris/AP