Evia will continue to tally up its wounds after the catastrophic fires, raging for eight days, that burned everything in their path. From the municipality of Limni to Agia Anna and from Vasilika to Istiaia, nothing but sadness and indignation can be perceived in the eyes and words of the residents. Thousands of acres of forests, houses and properties have been burned.

The Minister of Environment and Energy, Costas Skrekas, and the Deputy Minister, George Amyras, visited, this morning, the Municipality of Mantoudi – Limni – Agia Anna, which was particularly affected by the fires. During their visit, they met with the Mayor, George Tsapourniotis, and discussed the immediate actions that should be taken for the full restoration of electricity, as well as the reconstruction of the affected areas.

Afterwards, Mr. Skrekas and Mr. Amyras held successive meetings with the representatives of forest cooperatives, as well as with the resin growers.

The Minister and the Deputy Minister listened to their problems and assured for their part that the assignment by the forestry departments to the forest cooperatives for the implementation of the required works and tasks (eg logs, twigs) will proceed immediately, in order to prevent the appearance floods and torrents. Their priority, now, is the immediate removal of the dangerous burned logs and the construction of the necessary anti-corrosion and anti-flood works in the burned forest areas.

During the meetings, which took place in a very positive ambience, they also discussed the possibility of providing financial support to the forestry cooperatives for the repair and maintenance of their machinery and tools. Finally, Mr. Skrekas referred to the additional financial support (in addition to the regular financial support of 2.3 million euros) which is given this year to resin growers amounting to 3.7 million euros.

Afterwards, the Minister and the Deputy Minister, accompanied by the CEO of the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO), Tassos Manos, visited the affected areas of the Municipality, in order to closely monitor the progress of the work of repairing the damages of the Electricity Network. It should be noted that, thanks to the huge and uninterrupted effort made by the HEDNO staff, most of the customers in the affected areas have been re-electrified (more than 99%).

At the end of his visit to the Northern Evia, the Minister of Environment and Energy, Costas Skrekas, promised to visit again the area and, among other things, he said: “It’s high time we occupied with the restoration of the burned forest areas of Northern Evia and the protection of the natural wealth of the region. The commitment of the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was clear: we will regain what we lost and our forests will be reborn. After intensive work and close collaboration, I am confident that we will be able to maximize the resilience of our forest ecosystems to the inevitable conditions of the climate crisis. We are together in this great national effort, which only together can we turn into a positive force for change “.

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