GREECE: EU Commissioner Danuta Hubner evaluates damages caused by huge forest fires in the southern Peloponnese

EU Commissioner Danuta Hubner said that there were a number of avenues to explore, including the EU Solidarity Fund, in order to allocate emergency funds to Greece in light of the devastation caused by fires. Planes dropped water on smouldering forest fires in Greece on Friday (August 31) and the European Union promised cash to help the country recover from more than a week of destructive blazes that killed 63 people. Firefighters were tackling fires on two main fronts, and help began to arrive for the thousands made homeless, while the finance ministry said the damage to the overall economy was likely to be small. Prefabricated homes were being delivered at the pace of 40 a day, often hauled up winding mountain paths to re-house country dwellers whose homes had been razed. The government has paid out more than 70 million euros ($96 million) to more than 20,000 people whose properties were destroyed. The Finance Ministry has said the fires will cost the economy at least 1.2 billion euros but Greek media have estimated the bill at something like 4 billion euros. The EU official in charge of a 1 billion euro relief fund promised to help after viewing the scorched valleys of the southern Peloponnese peninsula from a helicopter. "We see many possible avenues (for financial assistance) and one of them is certainly the European Solidarity Fund, which we hope with the support of European Parliament and member states, we can launch very fast. We are now waiting, the government is preparing the application for the fund and I hope that we will have the fastest track we ever had to get the financing," EU Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Huebner said before meeting with the Greek authorities. EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who has called the fires a "European disaster", was due to fly to Greece later on Friday to hold talks with the government. In the western Peloponnese just as firefighters were confident they had blazes under control, four new fronts erupted just before nightfall near the historical town of Karitaina, a town that has until now not succumbed to the flames but the villages around it have been charred. Five villages in a cluster around Karitaina were being threatened, as the fire changed directions as if searching for villages that still remained untouched. One village in the cluster was already the victim of dozens of burned homes. Firefighters said they lost control of the fire when it swelled and spread into a valley, where planes could not reach it nor firefighters. Fortunately winds had died down once night struck, helping the efforts of firemen but still managed to reach the hillside over the historical town. Karitaina is enmeshed in Greece's history as a stronghold used by Greek revolutionary fighters to gain their independence from Ottoman rulers occupying Greece in the 19th century. The war of independence in 1821 was led by Theodore Kolokotronis, military general who used Karitaina as a base against the Ottomans, one of Greece's most famous military figures. Greece gained its independence from Ottoman rule of the Sultans thanks to the movement that was born in the Peloponnese. The national weather service predicted a mini-heatwave in the Athens region on Saturday (September 1) but also the prospect of rain in some parts of the country, reducing the risk of new flare-ups.

ITN Source | September 1, 2007

Tags:. .villages. .historical. .destroyed. .began. .whose