Greece’s wildfires show the ‘climate crisis is already here’
Authorities have evacuated nearly 2,500 people from the Greek island of Corfu as the heat-battered nation is “at war” with wildfires. And the nation’s prime minister has pointed to the climate crisis as the reason for the disaster.
Climate crisis already here
About 2,400 visitors and locals were evacuated from Corfu between Sunday 23 and Monday 24 July, a fire service spokesman said.
Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned parliament on Monday that there are “another three difficult days ahead”. Meteorologists have forecasted Greece’s heatwave will last through the week. He went on to say that the country is “at war” with the wildfires and “exclusively geared” towards fighting them, adding:
The climate crisis is already here, it will manifest itself everywhere in the Mediterranean with greater disasters.
Of course, alongside the threat and trauma to humans, wildfires have also had an immeasurable impact on wildlife and other animals.
Tens of thousands evacuated
Greece has been sweltering under a lengthy spell of extreme heat. High temperatures exacerbated wildfire risks, leading to authorities evacuating locals and visitors.
Tens of thousands of people have already fled blazes on the island of Rhodes. Kelly Squirrel, a transport administrator from the UK, told Agence France-Presse that police had ordered people from her hotel on Rhodes to evacuate. She added:
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Around 30,000 people fled Rhodes over the weekend. It is the island’s largest-ever wildfire evacuation.
Meanwhile, several travel companies have halted their inbound tourist flights to Rhodes. Some have also started helping to ferry tourists home.
First Spain, now Greece
Greece is not the only country facing a heatwave. Italy, Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, and other countries around the Mediterranean have experienced intense heat in July. Other countries worldwide have too. The UK has escaped the heat due to jet streams causing low pressure over the country.
In May, the Canary reported on the UN’s predictions of “record global temperatures”. It said at the time that this was due to the emergence of the El Niño weather pattern. As was widely reported, the UN’s predictions appeared to come true as Earth’s hottest day was broken several times in a row in early July.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said during the country’s early-onset wildfires in March 2023 that they showed the “climate emergency exists”. Now, with Greece experiencing its own wildfire disaster, there’s no doubting Mitsotakis’s claim that they show the climate crisis is already here.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
Featured image via Storyful News & Weather/YouTube
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I will play Devils Advocate on this article, Have the Wildfires been conclusively proved to be climate related is it not possible some Misguided Maniacs are deliberately setting these Fires to Force their Agenda about Climate Change. Is this scenario not as plausible as the Suns extreme Heat at the moment being the cause of these terrible fires . Young People who become or are already activists fighting against any State are given platitudes and receive the we are listening to you Bullshit No They ARE NOT LISTENING THEY NEVER DO. Climate Change is Real anyone with a modicum of sense knows this the quickest easiest way to stop our Planet Melting is stop Destroying the Earths Forests Climate Change is not all down to Fossil Fuels their are many factors driving the Change. Finally could it possibly be the unexpected tilt to Earths Axis be having a adverse effect or is Our Star getting closer to our Home Planet and is the Thousands of Fuel burning Rockets punching holes in our Protective Ozone Layer and do not say it’s science fiction or nonsense this is a Possibility.