the drama continues

"Greek emergency workers continue to find the charred bodies of people burned to death by forest fires that are raging in the south of the country." read the rest of the story here.

basically this is all about the fires back in my home country. and it's both to express my anger, and to explain the situation to someone who wouldn't have experience from the greek reality. 62 people reported dead since friday, and 89 new fires on from the middle of the night (4am) on sunday till monday morning. the entire country is currently in a state of emergency as there isn't enough capacity to set the fires under control.

the fires come about every summer, in different places around the country. some people blame it on the hot weather, or on other environmental phenomena or accidents but everyone (and i mean it) knows that the fires are all due to arson. why? the reason is simple: people want to burn down forest areas, and one way or another make their way illegally to building there (since they wouldn't be forest areas anymore) or getting a permit (by bribing or any other means) to build there legally (which wouldn't happen under normal circumstances since even a burned forest area is supposed to be protected). but most of the time, as one wouldn't want their fire to be easily set under control, they would start it when there are strong winds, which is usually the reason why it gets completely out of control and we have this environmental drama every summer.

but this has been the worst summer of all i remember in the past 20 years. multiple forests have been burned down to ashes, and we now have even human casualties. words are not enough to express my grief and anger for the people who are lost, for people whose lives have been destroyed and for the damage that human greed and governmental inability to plan and react can cause. WE HAVE THE SAME PROBLEMS EVERY SUMMER. No government I remember in the past 20 years has ever done anything serious about it. No significant additional capacity and incentives/training for the fire brigade, no arson plotters EVER found or arrested, no serious consequences for anyone involved in all of this tragedy. it's a shame, as in these cases, tragedy could have been pretty limited, if not prevented, but noone up there realises what their role is in prtecting the citizens and nature of this country.

in 3 weeks we are electing a new government in greece. whether it's one or the other of the two parties in charge of the country for the past two decades that wins, i am convinced that people will still vote for one of them, despite the fact that the country is in a state of wreck at the moment and they haven't done anything to stop this in the long run.
i don't really know what it will take to get someone with a real plan to govern the country.