As Guilford students attempt to preserve water in lieu of our drought warning, Greece has also felt the bitter effects of the dry August heat.

Greece recently declared a nationwide state of emergency as forest fires roared through the country leaving more than 60 people dead and hundreds of other residents left to start over. Among the victims were volunteer firefighters, residents caught in their homes, or escapees who could not get away.

Territories affected by the wildfires include Ileia, Messinia, Lakonia, Arkadia, Corinth, Attiki, and Aitolia kai Akarnania. The region hit worst by these massive fires was the town of Zaharo.

Residents pleaded desperately, via phone to radio and television stations, in hopes of being rescued. By land and by sea, authorities were able to evacuate 26 villages trapped in the flames. However, many residents refused to flee their properties, hoping to save irreplaceable remnants of their lives.

Approximately 300 tourists, mostly from France, were also evacuated from surrounding hotels.

As with most disasters it does not take long before the blaming begins. Many residents including members of the government believe that the fires were intentionally set by dishonest property developers.”So many fires breaking out simultaneously in so many parts of the country cannot be a coincidence,” said Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to the International Herald Tribune. “The state will do everything it can to find those responsible and punish them.”

A natural disaster is also a viable explanation for these fires since the land is dry, the hills are thickly wooded, and the winds made extinguishing fire even more difficult.

Xavier Pathoulas, a Greek-French architect said to the Associated Press, “If the wind doesn’t turn tonight we will burn.”

The best weapon proved to be large water-bombing aircrafts. Hovering dangerously close to the fires these aircrafts release a flood of water compensating for the lack of rain Greece endures in late August.

Greece’s focus now is to develop plans for reconstruction. European Union institutions are willing to speed up procedures in order that Greece can possibly benefit from the European Solidarity fund.

“All of us across Europe have been developing this deeper and deeper feeling of solidarity with burning Greece,” said Danuta Hbner, the European commissioner for regional policy, to Athens News Agency. “I am here to do very concrete things, because I believe that after the solidarity shown by all European states in the first days of the unprecedented disaster today, the time has come to accelerate the work on how to cope with the mid-term and long-term consequences of this disaster.”

Members of the Guilford community also offered solace to Greece. Becky Gibson, lecturer and professional tutor, spent two weeks in Athens this past May and was also devastated by news of the horrific fires.

“When I saw the picture of the trees,” said Gibson, “it broke my heart because this is what these people live on and these trees are hundreds of years old. They provide a livelihood for these people. They take seven to ten years to bear fruit. It will be decades before they are restored. In the picture they looked like fossils. It just broke my heart.