A paradise turned into a desert of ashes. A traditional Mediterranean way of life, based on honey, milk and oil, on the resin of pines, figs and olives is at risk of extinction. The north of the Greek island of Euboea, the second largest in the country - 175 kilometers from north to south and 45 kilometers at its widest - is only now beginning to come out of the nightmare, 12 days after last August 3 the fire devoured unstoppable forests, crops, houses and businesses. "There have been no deaths, but there have been thousands of people living dead," says Yorgos Tsapourniotis, mayor of Limni, a town of about 1,200 inhabitants in whose municipality the fire broke out that Tuesday around three in the afternoon. “There was a very strong wind and it spread very fast. In 30 minutes it already covered a front of three kilometers.300 houses have been burned, totally reduced to ashes. There are another 800 damaged and 40 companies destroyed. Some 36,000 hectares have burned ”. The mayor responds while giving orders or responding to the neighbors on the mobile phone, sitting in the town square. “We live in incredible chaos. We did not receive any help and when it arrived it was too late ”.
“It wasn't just the place that burned down. Our future burned down, "says Amalía Bloukidi, who runs the small 16-room Baterí hotel, which her family opened in 1998." That Tuesday the hotel was full, many guests were foreigners. We had no help other than two passes by two spray planes to dump water, nor was there any plan other than evacuation ”. Amalía was able to keep a cool head and, as flames besieged the hotel from two sides, she gave guests 10 minutes to collect their belongings and managed to leave in a hurry. Four rooms have been completely lost. Also its garden of medicinal and aromatic plants, one of the jewels of the island. “I do not expect anything from the authorities nor do I want to politicize the case, but I do accuse those who made the decisions for the absolute lack of coordination, the bureaucracy,mistakes and indifference. They condemned us to a slow death, ”he adds. The smell of smoke is still noticeable and the blackened beams and walls are testimony not only to the tragedy, but to the uncertain future that looms over northern Euboea. “The tourist season is already lost and that of the years to come probably too. Young people will leave and I, at 56 years old, even if I have the energy, where am I going to go? Who is going to hire me at this age? ”. Faced with the indifference and lack of resources provided by the authorities - the scarce resources of the island had fatally been transferred to the Athens region to stop the fires there - the young people of Limni and neighboring towns took the initiative to fight against fire, making up for the absence of the State.The smell of smoke is still noticeable and the blackened beams and walls are testimony not only to the tragedy, but to the uncertain future that looms over northern Euboea. “The tourist season is already lost and that of the years to come probably too. Young people will leave and I, at 56 years old, even if I have the energy, where am I going to go? Who is going to hire me at this age? ”. Faced with the indifference and lack of resources provided by the authorities - the scarce resources of the island had fatally been transferred to the Athens region to stop the fires there - the young people of Limni and neighboring towns took the initiative to fight against fire, making up for the absence of the State.The smell of smoke is still noticeable and the blackened beams and walls are testimony not only to the tragedy, but to the uncertain future that looms over northern Euboea. “The tourist season is already lost and that of the years to come probably too. Young people will leave and I, at 56 years old, even if I have the energy, where am I going to go? Who is going to hire me at this age? ”. Faced with the indifference and lack of resources provided by the authorities - the scarce resources of the island had fatally been transferred to the Athens region to stop the fires there - the young people of Limni and neighboring towns took the initiative to fight against fire, making up for the absence of the State.but of the uncertain future that looms over northern Euboea. “The tourist season is already lost and that of the years to come probably too. Young people will leave and I, at 56 years old, even if I have the energy, where am I going to go? Who is going to hire me at this age? ”. Faced with the indifference and lack of resources provided by the authorities - the scarce resources of the island had fatally been transferred to the Athens region to stop the fires there - the young people of Limni and neighboring towns took the initiative to fight against fire, making up for the absence of the State.but of the uncertain future that looms over northern Euboea. “The tourist season is already lost and that of the years to come probably too. Young people will leave and I, at 56 years old, even if I have the energy, where am I going to go? Who is going to hire me at this age? ”. Faced with the indifference and lack of resources provided by the authorities - the scarce resources of the island had fatally been transferred to the Athens region to stop the fires there - the young people of Limni and neighboring towns took the initiative to fight against fire, making up for the absence of the State.Faced with the indifference and lack of resources provided by the authorities - the scarce resources of the island had fatally been transferred to the Athens region to stop the fires there - the young people of Limni and neighboring towns took the initiative to fight against fire, making up for the absence of the State.Faced with the indifference and lack of resources provided by the authorities - the scarce resources of the island had been fatally transferred to the Athens region to stop the fires there - the young people of Limni and neighboring towns took the initiative to fight against fire, making up for the absence of the State.
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Yannis Triantafyllou, an air conditioning technician in his 30s, organized a fire brigade with a dozen friends, mobilizing all the young people in the region through social media.
“There were no firefighters.
Years ago when there was another fire there were about 75 ”, he assures.
They hastily evacuated those they could, including their own wife and two daughters, ages 8 and 5, who boarded a ferry like 2,000 other people, including residents and tourists.
“I thought I would be the last to leave.
The biggest complaint we have is that we couldn't save any more houses.
We are proud of our forest and we want it back ”.
It is still too early to do a damage assessment. It is estimated that some 50,000 people, of the 210,000 inhabitants that the island has, have been affected - it is now when electricity and Internet service are being restored - and the Government of Athens, led by the Conservative Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has opened an official investigation, although no one or almost no one trusts the results. But the fires in northern Euboea, ancient Negroponte - as the Venetians called it during their rule of the island between the 13th and 15th centuries - have exposed the neglect it has suffered for more than a decade in the starkest light. In these years, “the banks, the Treasury office, the outpatient clinics of the public health service were closed and the closest hospital is located in Calcis, the capital,about 80 kilometers from Limni, ”says retired journalist Pambos Hatzilambis, a resident of the area for 15 years. The fire has come to underline the marginalization felt by its inhabitants. “We are a forgotten island. After the economic crisis, the pandemic comes to us and now, the fires. We had started working again in June and July and the tourist season is already lost. I am afraid that the young people will leave the island ”, comments Gianna Anifioti, representative of the local Chamber of Commerce and owner of a typical restaurant.We had started working again in June and July and the tourist season is already lost. I am afraid that the young people will leave the island ”, comments Gianna Anifioti, representative of the local Chamber of Commerce and owner of a typical restaurant.We had started working again in June and July and the tourist season is already lost. I am afraid that the young people will leave the island ”, comments Gianna Anifioti, representative of the local Chamber of Commerce and owner of a typical restaurant.
Touring the island, very mountainous and until a few days ago also very green, is now traveling through a spectral landscape of black trunks and roots, of burnt pine, olive and fig trees, of ash valleys.
Smoke still rises from some trees, such as from an olive tree in the town of Rovies, to which Vangelis Marko, a 67-year-old farmer, attributes an antiquity of more than 2,000 years.
"Those of us who were born and raised here no longer recognize anything," he says with stoic sadness, while showing his burned olive trees.
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Some 60 kilometers further north, the young mayor of Istiea, Yannis Kontzias, says: “The town is at risk of disappearing.
There have been times when I have felt abandoned.
No central government authority has come.
The economy is destroyed.
It is too early to make an economic assessment, but unemployment will be close to 100%.
It will be very difficult for young people to stay ”.
At least the tragedy has brought a new spirit of solidarity.
“The local quarrels have ended and the neighbors are more united than ever.
That union is what will keep us standing to fight for the future ”, assures Kontzias, aware that the tragedy could repeat itself and that climate change always knocks twice.
Suspicion of the Prime Minister's plans
Most of the inhabitants of northern Euboea are convinced that the fires were caused by spurious interests, be it the promoters of wind energy and their ambition to install hundreds of windmills in their mountains, as rumor has it, or investors. tourists who would like to build hotels and golf courses taking advantage of the fact that the island is only a two and a half hour drive from Athens. Yet these same neighbors readily acknowledge that no one has for years taken care of clearing forests, clearing weeds, and creating firebreaks. Prime Minister Mitsotakis, who is receiving strong criticism for his handling of the ecological catastrophe, the largest in the country in modern times, although so far no opposition party has capitalized on them politically,has promised aid worth 500 million euros. But he has sown concern by announcing, without going into details, a development plan for the island, given its tendency to favor private initiative. Whatever happens, the islanders and their mayors are determined this time to have a say in their future.