While the fires that ravaged the Greek countryside north of Athens last week have finally been contained, dealing with the aftermath still remains a challenge. The summer is the worst time for fires in Greece, not because this is when they happen, but because it’s the time when Greeks in Greece and in the United States are less prepared to offer relief. Thankfully according to the latest published reports, released last Thursday, only 65 homes were destroyed and 143 were damaged . 

This month’s blazes were small compared to the 70 lives lost and the utter devastation of the Peloponnese two years ago. (The majority of the news coverage on CNN and other mainstream American and world media was probably due to the fact that the last series of major fires were only two years ago.) The Greek government has offered 750 Euro per square meter up to 120 square meters to those whose homes have been destroyed, which is at least something given that the Greek insurance industry anticipates that only one in five homes in the north Attica region of Greece are actually insured against fire.  (Only about one in ten homes in Greece are insured against fire and most of these homes affected by the fires were vacation homes.) So it’s not surprising that what seems to be missing from this year’s fires is the immediate mobilization and outreach from Greek-America.

Two years ago, Greek-America did an admirable job in mobilizing fire relief efforts as organizations like AHEPA and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese established fire relief funds during a time where arguably mobilizing Greek Americans to assist in such an effort is the most difficult.  It’s a fact of life that Greek America in many ways takes the summer off as the major secular organizations are typically in hiatus or transition and church attendance and collection tray revenue drops on Sundays. Hopefully the Greek government’s response to fires continues to improve as lessons are learned having to deal with these and other natural disasters from year to year, but regardless Greek America’s response can always stand to improve as well.