Destruction and tragedy are evident everywhere in Attica, Marios Stavrou, who heads a Support CY volunteer team in the area, has told CNA from Penteli, where his team operates on Wednesday.
Referring to the situation as regards the fire which has left one dead, destroyed hundreds of houses and businesses and over 100,000 acres of land in Attica, Stavrou said that “the situation is definitely much better compared to the previous days.”
On Wednesday the team has been operating in Penteli, he noted. “We will move to a specific area. Our teams have already been deployed, as well as other volunteer teams, but also many other services in various places, where there are small, but not negligible, flare-ups, so that they can be dealt with immediately,” he added.
The Cypriot volunteer pointed out that the situation is better in terms of the fire, but the damage is huge. “Destruction is everywhere, the thought of everyone is, how the houses adjacent to the affected areas were spared,” he said. He noted that the prev
ailing emotion is despair, because people “saw their properties go up in flames in an instant and will have to start again from scratch.”
“We are in the yard of a house where there is smoke and we came here to respond,” he said, adding that “truly destruction and tragedy are everywhere.”
Replying to a question by CNA, Stavrou said that “we will be here as long as necessary, we will see how things will go today and we will see accordingly how we will move tomorrow, so that we can support much more the actions of the “Smile of the Child” NGO which concern the rehabilitation and support of the families and the children who have been affected.”
The head of the Support CY team noted that Greece has been experiencing terrible disasters in recent years, not only fires. He added that his team had also helped out during the major floods in Thessaly. “The pain is the same for those people who lose everything, whether it is because of a flood or a fire,” he said.
The five-member mission of the Bank of Cyprus’ Suppor
tCY volunteer group is in Attica since Tuesday, with the aim of supporting the response to the consequences of the wildfire in Attica, in collaboration with the “Smile of the Child” NGO.
Source : Cyprus News Agency