President Nicos Anastasiades on Monday slammed people’s carelessness, negligence and refusal to take responsibility for risks they incur by their actions, following a meeting of senior officials to assess the fire that had taken hold in the Solea region
Speaking to reporters at the operations centre in Galata, Anastasiades said: “This really is a tragic situation.”
He said he had been briefed by the heads of the fire and forestry departments, civil defence, the chief of the National Guard and the police.
“I have been informed of the whole situation. What I would like to say above all is that people need to pay attention,” Anastasiades said. “Irreparable disasters that through carelessness, negligence or refusal to accept responsibility for the risks people take is causing tragic circumstances for rural communities.”
The fire in the Evrychou region that spread to the Solea region by Sunday, was started on Saturday by a 12-year-old boy playing with a cigarette lighter. A massive fire in Argaka between Saturday and Sunday was allegedly started by a couple burning rubbish.
Anastasiades thanked his Greek and Israeli counterparts for their assistance and said the dispatching of two Super Pumas ‘water bombers’ from Greece would contribute significantly to the work being done by the 14 other aircraft being used. In addition to three planes from Israel and two from Greece so far, aircraft from the Republic’s various services and the British bases were involved in the firefighting.
Asked if there was an estimate as to when the fire would be extinguished, the president said: “We are working as quickly as we can to take control. In the morning things seemed much better but at some point, unfortunately, due to wind changes there was a resurgence and the effort is to address this in an effective manner to avoid further consequences,” he said.
Anastasiades also wished a speedy recovery to the two firefighters that were injured, one critically, and said measures had been taken to prevent any risk to local residents.
He said the cabinet would meet on Wednesday to draw up measures for those affected and for a rapid reforestation progamme.
Asked by reporters about the offer of help from the north, Anastasiades said Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci had called him late on Sunday with the offer “given that it is our common country facing this problem”.
“I thanked him, of course, but realised that with the help from Israel, the UK authorities, and particularly from Greece, and with other aircraft, we did not think there was a need for further contributions. But in any case I want to thank him for the genuine interest to confront together the problems facing our common country,” Anastasiades said.
Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibris Postasi said Anastasiades did not rule out accepting help from the north depending on developments.
According to CNA, sources from the Turkish Cypriot ‘presidential palace’ told the newspaper that Akinci felt that when fires occurred in the past both sides had not accepted help from each other but he felt there should be cooperation on such matters.
