Anti-flooding measures; new threat caused by fires

ATHENS, Greece: Fears grew Tuesday that flooding could hit charred regions of Greece ravaged by 11 days of devastating forest fires that have left thousands homeless and villages destroyed.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis was to meet cabinet members in Athens Tuesday to decide additional relief measures.

Anti-flooding works were to start Tuesday on the central island of Evia after projects began Monday in the Peloponnese, to the south, concentrated around Ancient Olympia. The archaeological site survived the fires but the surrounding region was badly scorched.

They were the two regions worst hit by fires that burned up to a half-million acres of forest and farmland.

Fires were reported late Monday near Preveza, in west-central Greece, and near Epidaurus to the south. While major fires were all but out, fire officials warned that smoldering embers could easily re-ignite.

Meteorologists were predicting rain for northern and western Greece Tuesday, spreading south by Wednesday. While hopeful of wetter weather, they also feared downpours could cause flooding in fire-ravaged areas. Parts of northern Greece were hit by heavy rains and flooding on Sunday.

The wildfires in Greece also drew the attention of the European Union Monday.

In Strasbourg, France, members of the European Parliament criticized the Greek government's response to the fires and blamed land speculation and mass tourism for the devastation.

"Legal loopholes are in part responsible for these horrible fires. Property speculation must be rejected," said German Green lawmaker Elisabeth Schroedter.

MEPs called for a more efficient and coordinated fire-prevention system in Greece. The debate came as Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis was appealing in Brussels for a more coordinated, EU-wide response mechanism for natural disasters.

Late Monday Petros Molyviatis, a former foreign minister heading up a special fire emergency fund, said Greeks had donated around €62 million euros (US$84.4 million) so far.

The government also announced Monday that more than 45,000 people suffering fire damage had received more than €165 million (US$224 million) from a compensation program launched last week, and that more than 200 people had returned funds they were not entitled to.

Archbishop Christodoulos, the head of the Orthodox Church in Greece and who is in the U.S. receiving cancer treatment, said Monday he believed arson was to blame for many of the fires.

Greek forest fires continue to burn

Forest fires continued to burn in parts of southern Greece while the other main fronts of a series of massive fires have been extinguished, Greece's fire service said.

Fires on Mt Parnon and Mt Taygetos, in the south-eastern Peloponnese, were still burning as strong winds and dry conditions kept fire officials on high alert. Fire Department spokesman Nikos Diamandis said major fires in three other provinces of the Peloponnese had been put out.

The official death toll rose to 65 on Sunday when a seriously burned man on the island of Evia died in a hospital.

Meanwhile the government announced that urgent flood-control measures would be implemented in fire-devastated regions, mainly in the Peloponnese and on the island of Evia, and that prefabricated houses were being distributed by truck to the worst-hit areas.

After months of successive heat waves and no rain, heavy rainstorms have flooded parts of northern Greece. Rain and cooler weather were expected to move south early this week, helping firefighters in their efforts to extinguish any remaining blazes and prevent the possibility of smouldering fires rekindling. However, officials also fear that heavy rains could hamper relief efforts and lead to flooding.

Over a 10-day period, an estimated 4,000 people saw their homes destroyed by the wildfires, which also charred an estimated 469,000 acres of mostly forest and farmland and ravaged the area around the world heritage site of Ancient Olympia.

The fires have prompted a massive relief effort, although Greece's conservative government has faced strong public criticism for its allegedly slow response to the crisis. The public has also responded with massive donations of clothes, food and money.

Conservative Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, who faces general elections on September 16, was in the southern town of Tripolis as he continued to survey fire-damaged areas, as did other political party leaders.

The area around Artemida has been badly burnt by the fires

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

Last Main Greece Fire Is Contained

By DEREK GATOPOULOS
The Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece -- The last major fire in southern Greece has been brought under control after flaring up again over the weekend, fire officials said Sunday.

Officials also said two other big fires were completely extinguished, leaving only minor fires smoldering in the area.

The blazes had been largely contained for several days but firefighters struggled to prevent them from rekindling and causing more damage. Two villages were evacuated and 23 people were rescued by helicopter Saturday after one fire restarted in Greece's southern Peloponnese region.

Nine firefighting planes and two helicopters helped contain that blaze on Mount Parnon Sunday. Two other fires outside the towns of Megalopoli and Karytaina were out.

Meanwhile, rain was reported across much of northern Greece, with flooding on the Halkidiki peninsula, but it had not reached any areas affected by fires.

Fires have destroyed an estimated 469,000 acres of mostly forest and farmland over the past 10 days, prompting a massive relief effort but also criticism of Greece's government for allegedly responding to the crisis slowly and failing to safely evacuate villages before they were burned.

The death toll rose to 65 Sunday after a man seriously burned in a fire on the island of Evia died in a hospital.

Also Sunday, funeral services were held for a mother and her four children who were killed outside the southern village of Artemida while trying to flee the fires by car on Aug. 24. Four other people also died in the same convoy of cars when it became trapped in flames.

Authorities have not released any damage assessment, but an estimated 4,000 people lost their homes, according to independent estimates based on claims for assistance by individuals and local authorities.

A man herds sheep away from a fire in the village of Kiparissia about 230 kilometers (158 miles) southwest of Athens, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso toured fire damaged areas in southern Greece by helicopter, and promised aid to relieve areas where 64 people died and an estimated 190,000 hectares (469,000 acres) of mostly forest and farmland were destroyed. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)


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Greece buries fire victims, hopes for autumn rain

By Michele Kambas

ARTEMIDA, Greece (Reuters) - Sobbing villagers on Sunday buried a Greek mother and her four children who died in destructive forest fires, as the first autumn rains raised hopes of dousing the flames that have killed 64 people.

Storms in northern Greece flooded two villages as firefighters continued to battle blazes in the southern Peloponnese region. Rains were expected across Greece from Sunday night.

"The burnt forests contributed to the floods, which swept cars into the sea," said fire brigade officer Giorgos Minos in the northern Halkidiki peninsula.

In the village of Artemida, perched on a charred Peloponnese mountain, about 200 villagers attended the funeral of the mother found dead still clutching her children, the most shocking image of the inferno's trail of destruction.

"I have run out of tears. Will it bring her and the children back?" said Loukia Papadimitropoulos, 64, one of black-clad villagers who sobbed as a string of hearses carried the white coffins to the village church.

The fires have raged for 10 days, forcing thousands to flee their homes, burning villages and large swathes of forest. On Sunday, an injured man died in hospital, raising the death toll to 64, including 7 firemen.