Greek Island Samos – Votsalakia

Once again the beautiful island of Samos has been on fire! Thanks to the many fire fighters and to the Greek army, all fires are out! There is no danger and all tourists are back in their hotels by now and enjoy the beaches of Samos.

The latest fire had started on Monday evening in Marathokampos and Limnionas and is under control. This means there are no fires burning currently on Samos Island. Because of the still strong wind, the fire brigades remain in place to prevent any new outbreaks of fire in the area. 26 firemen, 13 fire vehicles, 88 people from the forest department, 70 volunteers, most of them from the volunteer fire brigade in Marathokampos, and four helicopters where fighting the fire for the whole night.

Only three days later the fires started on the other end of Samos and in an area where the wind gain speed going downhill towards the villages. The catastrophic event began on Monday, in the late afternoon, when behind the villages Marathokampos and Limnionas Beach the fire bells rang. Soon after the flames where seen to come down from the hills to the first houses of the villages. The strong winds from the north, that are typical for this season, they are called Meltemi drove the fire forward with speed. Since there are only two streets leading out of the area and goes right through the village of Marathokampos, the evacuation of tourists from hotels was initiated. Tourists got escorted to the waiting busses and with help of the police and the Greek army everything went smooth and without any problems.

As reason for the outbreak of the fire in Votsalakia, on the island of Samos was a family of beekeepers and a friend. Aparently a spark from the bee-keepers’ device to create smoke had ignited the fire when the wind blew in. 10,000 acres of farmland and forests have burned down in less than two days. Thankfully nobody was badly injured. According to our source in Samos, the bee-keepers son was a fire fighter himself.

Samos was just recovering from a large fire that broke out over the village of Kokkari last Tuesday. A lot of help has come very fast from Athens this time. Troupes of fire fighters with fire trucks and equipment have arrived in Samos as fast as humanly possible and the fire was extinguished on Friday the 28th of July. Now that all fires are out, we all hope that we have seen enough fires on Samos for this year!

Top Picture by Carl Osbourn
Gallery Pictures by Karin Bentheim and Michaela Urben

Words about the financial crisis in Greece from around the world.

Right now, the political and the financial situation in Greece are not promising a bright future for Greece. Here is a collection of what the world is thinking of the situation in Greece at the moment.

German Chancellor Mrs. Angela Merkel told Greece yesterday to fix its fiscal problems and added that due to the Greek crisis the common Euro currency was facing its worst test ever.

Greek Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou is due in Berlin this Friday to meet with Merkel. She spoke after days of friction, played out between the Greek and German media, over whose responsibility it is to act.

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Like in ancient times, Greece has once more become an example for the world today.

Editorial writer and columnist Anne Appelbaum, of the Washington Post analyzes the situation:

“I have seen America’s future, and it is Greece. By this I do not mean that the Midwest will soon be covered with ancient ruins or that Texans will swap hamburgers for feta cheese. I mean that the ongoing Greek financial crisis is the kind of crisis the United States might face in a few years, if we continue to make the kinds of mistakes that the Greeks have made over the past decade.” And she goes on: “Some of Greece’s economic problems are highly specific. The country has an unusually old-fashioned legal system, a bureaucracy straight out of a Kafka novel and a byzantine system of regulation”

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Takis Michas from the Wall Street Journal describes the financial situation in a nutshell:

“In Greece, as elsewhere, if the management of a company reports misleading figures about the company’s financial situation in order to boost the price of the shares or to support the sale of securities, it risks criminal charges. Around the world, including in Greece, this is securities fraud. But in Greece, unlike elsewhere, if those responsible for the deception are members of a (previous) government and if the victims are “foreigners” (“xenoi,” in Greek) they run no such risk. The most they can expect is slap on the wrist and a mild – Please don’t do it again!”

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Gevin Hewitt of BBC states on his blog:

“Key advisers in Athens believe that you can’t buck the markets, and that Greece needs to show it is backed up by a pool of money.

The markets are already factoring in that there will be a bail-out or rescue. Intense discussions are going on involving European officials. They include Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the Euro Group and Jean-Claude Trichet, the President of the European Central Bank. European finance ministers were holding emergency talks.”

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It’s scary what is going on at the moment and there have already been rumors that Greece will have Drachmas again…