According to local authorities, on Saturday July 22, around 30,000 people were evacuated from the island, which was threatened by the fires that have plagued Greece for a week.
According to the Frenchman Morgan Duclax, the Greek island of Rhodes was ravaged by fire for several days, “A lot of efforts have been made by the locals, but on the part of the authorities, communication is very limited” laments France Info on Sunday, July 23. She explains that“There were messages to evacuate villages, but other than that, not much”.
>> Greece: Devastating fires and criticism of public authorities’ lack of preparedness
In that place, French describes a situation “Exceptional”, “Extremely disturbing at the moment”. She says “We have deployed people in gymnasiums, schools as there have been mass evacuations”.
A great unity in that place
“There are a lot of calls on social networks, She adds, to bring help or food”. La Francaise speaks of unity: “We have businesses that are exceptionally open today. We have owners who are exceptionally accommodating people in their homes”.
Morgan Duclaux confirms that this is indeed the case “Exceptional” This year: “Fires have occurred in recent years, but not on this scale and heat waves have not lasted long.”. Temperatures crossed 46 degrees in many places across the country.
“We had to walk for miles with children and old people on very narrow paths with fire behind us, unbearable heat.”
Magali FrancoisAt franceinfo
“We were evacuated very quickly, very quickly, in 10 minutes”, says another French woman at franceinfo. Magalie François, 37, of Lorraine, had been on a trip to the island of Rhodes with her husband and their 8-year-old daughter, and they returned to France this Sunday.
It all started on Friday “with heavy smoke”And then on Saturday afternoon everything accelerated: “The fire spread, the smoke thick”. Accompanied by her husband and daughter, Magali narrates what happened “Three and a half hours and seven kilometers to get out”. “First we were taken care of in a hotel, then the army came to evacuate us to the south. Finally, they came to pick us up that night to take us to the airport”.
An evacuation is “too late.”
“It was very hot, She continues, It was complicated, the fire was going faster than us, and we were very scared.”. She says they were “Thousands of little lanes with babies, children, old people, asthmatics” and condemns the lack of support and expectation: “We were evacuated too late when the fire broke out behind the hotel.”
According to him, the local authorities were “shocked, they did not understand what was happening and were overwhelmed”.
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