thekristydave

We will not say thereafter that the Greeks fight like heroes, but heroes fight like the Greeks!

The above quote from Winston Churchill sums up the strength of the people of this country, which was again illustrated these past weeks in their fight against forest fires that ripped though the northern countryside. Over 75 people have died and half a million acres of forest have been destroyed, creating the worst devastation of this kind ever recorded in Greek history. This devastation has been met by the typical Greek “I won’t back down attitude” with residents valiantly fighting the flames themselves to save their homes.

I read a news report of one man running out of water and using wine to keep the encroaching flames at bay. As a recent visitor to a village in the North of Greece, I suddenly realized the difficulty in fighting these fires: water in mountain villages is often delivered by truck. It is not uncommon for a normal household to run out of water if they have a few guests. Imagine a visiting fire carelessly consuming your precious water reserves in one gulp as you fight against the inevitable destruction of everything you own…

This deep tragedy was fueled by more than the unfortunate circumstances of a very dry winter, ensuing drought, and a period of strong winds and high temperatures. Many of these fires are thought to be neither natural nor accidental: they were lit by someone and it seems this someone’s intentions were based in political or economic gain. It’s a shame that the forest and its residents have suffered by the hands of a few humans consumed by greed and indifference.

For the last few years, there has been a problem with fires in Greece as a result of developers wanting to access valuable land for building. Apparently the way the law is set up, if a protected forest loses its trees (i.e. they turn into charcoal) that area needs to be re-designated as forest. This gives opportunity for developers to move in set up shop and make millions from the loss. Since there is no centralized land registry, exactly where the borders of the protected area begin or end is a mystery. Apparently the developers can build a house faster than it can be determined whether or not where they were building was protected land…once the trees are gone, no one can prove where the forest was.

So a developer pays someone to be careless with a match and a can of gasoline. After all the tragedy, the loss of life and property, on top lies the responsibility. While the individual who started the fire will certainly be investigated, it is highly questionable as to whether or not any development company will be prosecuted. The fires are under control for now and people are attempting to rebuild their lives, but I am wondering if the developers are literally waiting for the smoke to clear before they attempt their own wicked version of rebuilding.