Over one million acres of forest and agricultural land have been taken by forest fires during the last two weeks in Greece.
The EU’s body for monitoring forest fires (Effis) says it is the worst round of forest fires since 2007.
On Friday morning, the fire brigade in Greece announces that they finally have the forest fires under control.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has described the 586 fires that have ravaged several regions of the country as an “exceptional natural disaster”.
On Thursday, he said that the fires are the biggest ecological crisis in the country in decades, and he pointed to one reason: Climate change.
– The climate crisis is here, and it tells us that everything must change, Mitsotakis said, pointing out that there have also been exceptionally large fires in Turkey, Italy and Algeria this year.
According to the Prime Minister, 150 homes have been lost in the immediate vicinity of Athens in the past week. The count of burnt-out houses on the island of Evvia north of Athens is still ongoing.
Half of the burned area is on Evvia, but other areas of the country are also hard hit, including the Peloponnese southwest of Athens.
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