Experts Blame Poor Govt Preparation For Greek Fires' Devastation

Athens, Sept 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Sep, 2023 ) :While the Greek government has been quick to blame global warming for the summer's devastating wildfires, some experts argue that poor planning is at least as much to blame.

The European Commission has said that the blaze in the Dadia National Park, which has been burning for two weeks now, is the largest on record in Europe.

That and other deadly fires across Greece were expected to consume more than 150,000 hectares (370,600 acres) of land, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament this week.

And the flames have so far claimed 26 lives.

"Is the climate crisis the alibi for everything?" said Mitsotakis.

"No, it is not an alibi -- but it is part of the interpretation," he insisted.

Climate change is a theme the government has touched on repeatedly in the context of the wildfires but, as Mitsotakis appeared to at least implicitly acknowledge, it is not the whole story.

This year's fires are certainly stronger than those of previous years because of climate change, said Alexandros Dimitrakopoulos, head of Forest Protection and the Wildland Fire Science Lab at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

But that does not fully explain the extent of the damage, he told AFP, pointing out that 10 percent of the country's woodlands had gone up in smoke since 2007.