According to local authorities, on Saturday July 22, some 30,000 people were evacuated from the island, threatened by fires that have affected Greece for a week.
According to the French Morgane Duclaux, installed on the Greek island of Rhodes plagued by fires for several days, “a lot of effort has been made by the local population but on the side of the authorities, communication has been very minimal” she laments Sunday July 23 on franceinfo. She explains that“there were messages to evacuate the villages but apart from that, not much”.
>> Greece: devastating fires and criticism of the unpreparedness of public authorities
On the spot, the French describes a situation “exceptional”, “very disturbed at the moment”. She says that “Since there were mass evacuations, we have people installed in gymnasiums, schools”.
A great solidarity on the spot
“There are a lot of calls on social networks, she adds, to help or bring food”. La Française also talks about the solidarity put in place: “There are businesses that have been opened exceptionally today. We have owners who have exceptionally accommodated people in their homes”.
Morgane Duclaux confirms that this is indeed a situation “exceptional” This year : “There had been fires in recent years but not of this magnitude and the heat waves have never lasted so long”. Temperatures exceeded 46 degrees in places across the country.
“We had to walk for miles with the fire behind us, unbearable heat, with children and elderly people on very narrow paths.”
Magalie Francoisat franceinfo
“We were evacuated very quickly, too quickly, in 10 minutes”, says another Frenchwoman on franceinfo. Magalie François, 37-year-old Lorraine, was on a trip to the island of Rhodes with her husband and their 8-year-old daughter, they returned to France this Sunday.
It all started Friday “with intense smoke”then everything accelerated on Saturday noon: “The flames spread, the smoke was dense”. With her husband and daughter, Magalie recounts walking “seven kilometers for three and a half hours to evacuate”. “We were taken care of in a first hotel, then the army came to extricate us to the south. Finally, they came to pick us up that night to take us to the airport”.
An evacuation “too late”
“It was very hot, she continues, it was complicated, the fire was going faster than us, we were very scared”. She says they were “thousands on small paths with children, babies, the elderly, asthmatics” and deplores the lack of support and anticipation: “We were evacuated too late, when the flames were behind the hotel.”
According to her, the local authorities “were taken aback, they did not understand what was happening and were overwhelmed”.