Bank of Cyprus donates EUR 5 mln to Greek fire relief

— Olive production destroyed, damages seen at EUR 1,5 bln

 

Bank of Cyprus is contributing EUR 5 mln in financial aid and supplies to the relief effort from the ravaging Greek fires, which until yesterday had claimed 63 lives and left thousands homeless, while a major fund raising drive is underway throughout Cyprus to collect money for the victims of the forest fires and for the reconstruction drive.

The Bank of Cyprus donation, the biggest single amount ever donated to charity, in addition to its funding of the Cancer Centre in Nicosia, also includes direct aid to residents of Ileias prefecture who have lost homes and all their belongings.

Furthermore, the bank is going to buy eight fire fighting emergency vehicles and will purchase equipment for the fire fighters’ volunteer force of Attica. It is also going to make ex-gratis payments of EUR 20,000 each to the families of fire fighters killed during the present fires, as well as the recent fires in Crete and will also defer loan repayments for a year for those families in the fire ravaged area.

Reports suggest that 70% of the olives and olive oil production from the famous Kalamata area and about 80% of the raisin production has been destroyed, while damages are estimated at about EUR 1,5 bln.

The political parties, AKEL, EDEK and DIKO, have donated or pledged EUR 10,000 each while DISY had already paid EUR 5,000 with DISY MP Eleni Theocharous leading a team of doctors flying to Greece to treat the wounded. The trade union PEO has pledged to donate CYP 10,000 and will raise funds through the sale of a CYP 3 lottery.
Cypriot and other fire fighters and volunteers from abroad battled for the fifth day to save people, homes, farms and forests in the inferno that has killed 63 people and left thousands homeless.

According to Greek Fire Department Spokesman Nicos Diamantis, eight large fire fronts are still posing the greatest danger.

In Seta, Evoia, apart from the local fire fighters, 19 people and two fire trucks from Hungary are assisting the efforts to control the blaze, as well as 25 Cypriots and five fire trucks from Cyprus and seven more volunteers, while at Krestena 52 volunteers from Israel are battling the fires.

A total of 95 firefighters have been injured, seven of them have suffered serious burns, fractures and face respiratory problems.

According to the Greek Fire Department, Albania will send two fire trucks and 10 firefighters; Spain will dispatch two more planes while a Cypriot businessman has offered 4,680 breathing masks.

Meanwhile, the Cypriot firemen and volunteers were praised by the Greek authorities for saving villages as they battled with their Greek colleagues to bring the raging fires under control.

“Aliveri village was saved thanks to the Cypriots”, its Mayor Katerina Karapa told Cypriot Interior Minister Christos Patsalides during a telephone conversation Monday night.

Patsalides said Karapa telephoned him to express the undivided appreciation and gratitude of the residents of Aliveri to the Cypriot firemen and members of the Civil Defence team who traveled to Greece to assist in battling the fire fronts.

The Interior Minister said there are additional Civil Defence teams as well as the Game Department who are ready to join the efforts to battle the fires.
A unit of 23 National Guardsmen departed on board two C-130 and C-27 transport planes with two trucks, three SUV vehicles and six bikes from the Andreas Papandreou Military Base in Paphos.