Table of Content
1. Introduction
2. Reasons
3. Response
In Greece, around 2500 people were evacuated from Corfu, the Greek Island on Monday as firefighters tried their best to extinguish the wildfire. Thousands of people have already fled the islands of Corfu and Rhodes till Monday.
The airport in Sicilian City, Palermo airport was shut till 9 AM (GMT), as firefighters were working to set a blaze to the wildfire nearing the airport. Moreover, road and rail traffic has been suspended due to this.
Satellite images reveal scorched and burnt land of the Greek Islands, with the wildfire marking one of the hottest days for Sicily rising to 47.6 Celsius.
Interestingly, Rhodes which marks 2.5 million visitors arrivals in 2022 has been evacuated rapidly, and hotels, homes and all the infrastructure has been asked to be emptied. This is to be the country’s largest evacuation in terms of wildfire.
Police said it has evacuated around sixteen thousand people on land(16,000) and around three thousand(3000) by sea.
“We are exhausted and traumatized”, said one of the German tourists who along with his family were stuck on the island and waiting for the rescue.
REASON FOR THE FIRES
Wildfires can be extremely dangerous posing an easy threat to one’s life, fires tend to move as fast with the winds and with dry plants they are lethal. Wildfire survivors are the ones who face severe psychological problems as well.
The wind carries toxic fumes, tiny particles which are small particulates that enter the lungs, and eyes, and even dissolve in the bloodstream as well. These Wildfire sizes are even smaller than the PM 2.5 matter.
The emissions from wildfires in Greece this year are more than double the average in 2006-22! This sparks the problem of Climate change as well. Burning fossil fuels and rapid destruction has led to the heating of the planet by 1.2 degrees Celsius and by 2 degrees Celsius in Europe especially considering pre-industrial levels.
Well, Wildfires are not uncommon in Greece; they tend to be prone to this during the initial summer phase but the point of concern is the increase in frequency of the wildfires. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that heat-induced fire in southern Europe will increase at a significant rate of 14%.
The impacted area includes Attica, Corfu, Evia and Rhodes Island.
This has been subjected to International Assistance where the European Union has announced to provide more than 450 firefighters, countries like Bulgaria has deployed 75 firefighters and vehicles, Malta sent 20 firefighter teams etc. In the departure hall the reporters have seen tourists lying on the ground.
NEXT MOVE OF GREECE
The country is expected to face the most prolonged heat waves it can, there are many regions under direct risk of forest fire, and Crews are trying their best to set ablaze the fires in long composition. Greece Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis has thanked the countries for their assistance and in parliament told the country is at “WAR”.
10% of Rhodes Island has been burned. In 2018, 104 people were reported killed in the fires of Mati, Greece has tried its best to be more proactive for it. Tourism accounts for 18% of Greece’s economy and especially its historic culture as well.
Although we’ve seen in Sri Lanka when tourism fumbles in a country, the situation for Greece’s economy is not the same but tourism accounts for a major part of Rhodes Island. Rhodes Mayor on Facebook said, “The island is facing an unprecedented ordeal”.
