Massive fires ravaged Greece over the past few days, displacing tens of thousands of people and causing irreparable damage to farms, homes, and livelihoods. From July 17, wildfires were reported from parts of Attica and the Peloponnese region, and the islands of Corfu, Rhodes, and Evia, among other places. Five people have reportedly died, including two pilots of an aircraft involved in firefighting. Damages worth over 600 million euros (USD 659.40+ million) have been reported so far across Greece. Firefighters and volunteer groups in the country and civil protection agencies from the EU and some Asian and African countries are actively involved in the firefighting and rescue operations.
The ongoing Cerberus heatwave, which has caused a historic rise in temperatures in the Mediterranean and across Europe, is said to be a catalyst for the wildfires. The drastic change in climate due to global warming has led to frequent extreme climate events such as wildfires and severe floods in several European countries.
At the same time, hyper-austerity policies followed by successive Greek governments have seriously hampered the systemic ability to respond to such emergency situations. Preemptive strategies and plans to tackle these recurring events are virtually absent to this date, despite repeated warnings and huge losses incurred due to the fires.
While Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has tried to put the entire blame for the crisis on climate change and human behavior, Communist Party of Greece (KKE) legislator Nikos Karathanasopoulos called out the criminal irresponsibility of the government which exacerbated the crisis with no comprehensive plan for fire protection focusing on prevention.
“For the Greek government and the EU, modern forest protection infrastructure is a ‘useless cost,’ because it does not produce a ‘benefit,’ i.e. profitability for capital,” Karathanasopoulos said, while addressing the parliament.
In its official statement expressing condolences to the victims of the fire, the KKE said that the fires had exposed the New Democracy (ND) government’s claim that it sought to protect lives.
