PM Mitsotakis Visits Burned Areas on Evia, Pledges Immediate Relief

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited on Wednesday noon the scorched areas of central Evia (Euboea) to get a first-hand look at the situation on the island.
Mitsotakis visited the mobile coordination center called “Olympos”, which is currently based in central Evia, and was briefed on the current condition of the wildfire by officials from the Fire Brigade and the Civil Protection General secretariat.
Speaking in front of reporters, the Premier said that he has already asked those responsible to assess the magnitude of the disaster as it relates to the destruction of farmland, so that farmers in the region could receive compensation from ELGA, Greece’s State Agricultural Insurance Organization.
”Our first priority is to protect human lives, and then to protect people’s fortunes,” the Prime Minister noted.
Referring to the natural disaster, Mitsotakis also stated that Greek authorities will take all the necessary measures to help nature to begin the long process of healing itself from the effects of the conflagration.
Earlier on Wednesday the PM highlighted the need of the European Union’s solidarity in natural disasters, and noted that it is crucial for it to be expressed in practice, in such cases as the fire on Evia Island.
Mitsotakis also had a meeting on Wednesday with Christos Stylianides, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management and Humanitarian Aid, at Maximos mansion in Athens.

Ευχαριστώ τον @StylianidesEU για την ανταπόκρισή του στο αίτημα για συνδρομή από τον ευρωπαϊκό μηχανισμό Πολ. Προστασίας στην αντιμετώπιση της πυρκαγιάς στην Εύβοια. Το #rescEU πρέπει να αποκτήσει μόνιμες δομές ώστε να μπορεί να συνδράμει κάθε χώρα της ΕΕ που βρίσκεται σε ανάγκη. pic.twitter.com/2UhEjYlIyn

— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) August 14, 2019

Mitsotakis thanked Stylianides for the EU’s immediate response to the Greek government’s request for assistance in the efforts to contain the wildfire raging on Evia and also for the establishment of the ”RescEU” program.
It is noted that the EU has already assisted Greece in fighting the fire on Evia by sending water-dropping and other firefighting aircraft from other member states.

We stand in full solidarity with Greece, facing devastating forest fires.
Three fire-fighting planes from the #rescEU reserve from Italy and Spain are already in action.
We are ready to provide further assistance: https://t.co/d7HNr6LnPi pic.twitter.com/bX5h7zeGaK

— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) August 14, 2019