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Five days after devastating wildfires decimated seaside communities outside Athens, leaving 87 dead and countless missing, besieged Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras assumed political responsibility for the disaster. At an emergency meeting of his cabinet, he acknowledged that the tragedy had left him wondering if his government could have done more to prevent such loss of life.
"It's a difficult moment, perhaps the heaviest of our tenure," he said in a speech delivered with unusual contrition. "The dead can not speak, but the least we can do in their memory is to show respect for the truth."
"Before the cabinet, and the Greek people, I want to take full responsibility for the tragedy … I consider it obvious to the prime minister of a country to do – and I ask you to also assume responsibility, "
The left-led coalition remained shaken then that the criticism of his management of the disaster was rising. Tsipras, who took power in 2015, promising to radically change the way Greece was governed, admitted that he had been possessed by "mixed feelings of pain, devastation and anguish".
"Anxious about whether we have acted as we should, whether we have answered correctly in these critical hours, and whether we could have done anything more to save yet one of the souls who have died unjustly. "
Prime Minister has not appeared in public since the return of Bosnia and Herzegovina Monday, when it became clear that wildfires were raging out of control just 25 km outside of the capital, the absence of which has reinforced the outcry caused by the reaction to a disaster now considered the worst in modern Greece, and as the number of deaths has increased, the Queen has joined the Other international heads of state to express condolences this week. "Addressing to his dark and downcast ministers, Tsipras said the disaster had left him afraid that, by" instinct of "the members of his government could have" made too many excuses to reduce the responsibility "even if the political opposition also exploited the disaster, he said.) But the coalition Tsipras has caused a new fury Friday after the minister Civil Protection, Nikos Toskas, said at a hastily held press conference that the fires had caused fires. had been manipulated.
On Thursday, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos was heckled while inspecting the calcined remains of Mati's buildings, the seaside village almost entirely erased by the fire and where most of the dead took place.
It is now known that many victims died after being trapped in vehicles while they were trying to escape fires. But with gale force winds up to 124 km / h that stoke the flames, the government insisted that there was no time to evacuate people from the areas whose escape routes were blocked by illegally built summer residences.
In a special report, experts from the faculty of geology and geo-environment of the University of Athens describe Mati as a "fire trap", arguing that the anarchic construction of the station made impossible fire safety in a region well known for the summer. flames.
The government quickly announced aid measures, including a one-time payment of 10,000 euros for the families of the victims, university places for the affected children and public jobs for the partners of those who died in the country. # 39; hell.
But as rescue teams continued to search the devastated area for dozens of people still missing, Tsipras also said he was determined to deal with the chronic problems that triggered the tragedy. natural environment.
"We will proceed with speed and determination to develop a national plan that will finally address construction anomalies dating back several decades," he said. It was crucial, he said, that the country is also restructuring its civil protection agency.
"If we have to put bulldozers to work and face the confrontation, so be it, we will not sit idly by, take half measures, wait indecisively for the next tragedy . "
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