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Greek fires may be under control
EU steps in with firefighting effort as Greek goverment comes under criticism.
Last Modified: 28 Aug 2007 17:02 GMT

Villagers receive supplies of food
from a Greek Orthodox church [AFP]

Wildfires racking southern Greece may finally be coming under control after foreign firefighters and aircrafts joined in efforts to put out the blaze.

Austria, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Spain have all sent aircraft as part of what the EU has said is the largest-ever offer of emergency assistance to a member state.
Israel and Turkey also promised to send equipment.

More than 64 people have been killed, and many more forced out of their villages, in the worst forest fires Greece has known in living memory.
 
Tuesday was the fifth day of firefighting, with crews starting to see an end to the destruction.

Laurence Lee, reporting from the western Peloponnese, said it was clear things were improving, but villagers were still angry at how the situation was handled and are struggling to cope with the loss.

In the Makistos village, where seven people died, one resident said: "I came barefoot from Albania for a better life, but now I'm back where I started. I lost my house, my animals, my mother-in-law."

The victims died mainly after becoming trapped by fast-moving fires, but firefighters said on Tuesday that the flames posed no immediate danger to villages.
 
Economic impact

Air tankers were dropping water, and help was being co-ordinated on the ground to put many of the fires out.

Southern Greece is the worst-hit region. Flames ravaged olive groves, forest and orchards and incinerated homes, wild animals and livestock as well as damaging the birthplace of the Olympic Games in Ancient Olympia.

The government said it budgeted nearly one-third of a billion euros for the immediate relief operation, but the foreign ministry said the final cost of the damage is likely to be much higher.

Hundreds of people have taken to the streets of Athens to protest against what they see as a lackluster response from the government.

The government blames the fires on arsonists.

Arsonists

Evangelos Andaneros, the Greek government spokesman, told al Jazeera: "The width of the firefronts and difficulties are really big, but this is not an accident. I would like to underline that the government does not imply anything, but the thing that every citizen is thinking."

Karolos Papoulias, the Greek president, called the fires "a national catastrophe".

He also called the Greek political parties to show "maturity" as they traded insults and blame over the handling of the firefighting effort ahead of early elections on September 16.

The hunt is on for arsonists with more than a $1m reward for any leads, but with an election just over two weeks away, time may not be on the government's side in trying to repair the damage already done.

Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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