August 2018

When starting to write this monthly piece, I usually make a little list of subjects I might like to talk about, as it were. I did the same a couple of days ago, but then had to alter the order of discussion. Only Attica’s disastrous fires could come first. People who don’t know about these by now must be living somewhere near Timbuktu, I imagine. But the whole conflagration began very quickly and roared out of control equally quickly. News services were hard put to it to keep up, and so were the Fire Department and the Red Cross.

Greece is a very fire-prone country: the terrain of mountains and gullies is difficult to cope with when fire breaks out, and every summer is hot and dry, with the meltemi blowing from about May to September. The meltemi is the trade wind of the Aegean, and very troublesome it can be to sailors, even experienced ones. And to other people as well. On Monday and Tuesday of the week just past the wind was so strong that fire-fighting planes were unable to take off. Usually these do sterling work, scooping vast amounts of water from the sea and then dumping those amounts where they can do most good. This is happening in California even as I write.

My middle son lives in Megara, which is between Corinth and Athens: he could see the Kinetta fire. This, too, broke out on Monday night, but was brought more or less under control within 24 hours: the main road to Athens, which had been closed because of heavy smoke clouds, was opened again, which meant that the Peloponnese was no longer cut off. The Rafina/Mati fire, east of Athens, was a very different story, with the death toll currently at 88. My youngest son is a fire-fighter and was sent to the scene after the worst was over: he described the situation as being frightful. He also told me that the individual stories of loss are just so sad. Flags have been at half-mast for three days in recognition of this.

These fires are worse than the ones that took place in 2007, and the whole country reeled under the impact of those; now it is reeling again. One difference between the terrible incidents was that the 2007 fires stretched over most of a week, whereas the Rafina/Mati area was reduced to ruin in less than 48 hours. It has been described as a death trap, as unplanned building meant that access to the beach has always been difficult, especially to those who are holiday-makers rather than permanent residents. The settlements also grew in haphazard fashion in a pine forest, and there were a great many of these highly flammable trees still there. Not any more. 2000 houses have been affected, 500 of them gutted.

Circumstances combined to produce this dreadful tragedy, so it is very difficult to believe in the fact that some people, who should know better, are expressing views that can only be described as being completely ignorant and definitely hair-raising. It is well-known that Prime Minister Tsipras is an atheist: for the first time in the history of the modern Greek state there were no clergy present at his swearing-in ceremony. An opportunistic Bishop of the church thus has lost no time in delivering an ill-advised rant about the fires being the result of God’s wrath. (I ask you.) And the reason for God’s wrath on this occasion? The PM’s atheism. I’m pleased to report that the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has not been slow to reprimand this individual, saying that this is not what God is about. A young priest simply took to Twitter and told the Bishop to shut up. I imagine the young cleric collected quite a few likes, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bishop has not encouraged a new crop of atheists to flourish.

Other alarming developments include the observation that tourist planes are departing in droves, a trend that Greece can ill afford. But people become frightened, and who can blame them, when they learn facts like the one that an Irishman died while on his honeymoon? (His poor wife is now in hospital). Other tourists also died, and now various governments have put warnings in the sections of their websites that dispense advice to travellers.

It is also alarming to note that the blame game is well and truly on. The public is blaming the government’s failure to be prepared, and to have an emergency plan at the ready. There have been resignations. The fire service blames the prolonged austerity measures that have been imposed on Greece for their limitations in fighting fires. Lack of funds has inevitably had its effect, so that Greece has had to ask for international aid: it is good to see that it has not been slow in coming. The recriminations will continue for quite some time, I predict.

Next month I hope to write in more cheerful vein. I will have attended a Cretan wedding. Granddaughter Natalia, who turns 2 today, will be a flower girl, as I have said, and her brother Orestes, now 5, will also be in attendance with several other littlies. Well, I tell myself, if the Duchess of Sussex can manage it, so can the Cretan bride! But I’m glad all I have to do is look and admire.