PM APOLOGIZES AFTER WILDFIRE CATASTROPHE

PEFKI Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologized on Monday for failures in tackling the devastating wildfires that have burned across Greece for the past week as the country counted the cost in lost homes and livelihoods.

As fires burned unabated in many parts of the country for a seventh day, the biggest front was on Evia, Greece’s second-biggest island located just off the mainland east of Athens.

“It burned everything, there’s nothing left,” said 77-year-old Makis Ladogiannakis, sitting in a café in the seaside town of Pefki, where a ferry waited to evacuate more locals and tourists to safety if needed, as in previous days.

More than 500 fires have been burning across Greece, forcing the evacuation of dozens of villages and thousands of people, and there has been growing public anger at delays and breakdowns in the government’s response.

Mitsotakis went on television late on Monday to make a public apology and promised that mistakes would be identified and rectified but called for unity.

“I fully understand the pain of our fellow citizens who saw their homes or property burned,” he said. “Any failures will be identified. And responsibility will be assigned wherever necessary.”

Mitsotakis promised that forests destroyed by the fires would be restored and climate defences be built up, and he pledged compensation for those whose property was destroyed in the fires.

He approved a $738 million package of aid for Evia and the Attica region around Athens.

KONSTANTINOS TSAKALIDIS / BLOOMBERG An elderly resident reacts Sunday as a wildfire approaches her house in the village of Gouves, on the island of Evia, where thousands of residents from dozens of villages were evacuated by boat.