As man-made climate change triggered a record-breaking summer heat wave, hundreds of fires are burning across the Mediterranean, causing thousands of people to be displaced and causing irreparable losses.
It is expected that temperatures in parts of Spain will be very high, France On Friday and Saturday, the area will still have hot summer weather for several weeks, and the crisis may spread.
exist Greece, Firefighters continue to fight what Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described on Thursday as the country’s “largest ecological disaster in decades.”
Greece’s worst heat wave in decades triggered fires that destroyed more than 100,000 hectares of forest and farmland.
The fire killed three people, made hundreds homeless, forced thousands to flee, and caused economic and environmental damage. Mizotakis said that 150 houses were destroyed in Greater Athens last week, while the number of houses on Evia is still rising, accounting for more than half of the country’s burnt area.
Although the recent rains have eased Greece’s crisis, it is only one of many Mediterranean countries that have been hit by the wildfire season. According to the IPCC assessment draft seen by Agence France-Presse, the area has been classified as a “climate change hotspot”, and rising temperatures and drought have prolonged the fire season.
Turkey Saw it The southern coast was destroyed by fireEight people, including two firefighters, were killed in a wildfire, which destroyed large pine forests and farmland.
More than 10,000 people were forced to abandon damaged houses, and resorts and hotels were evacuated during the tourist season.
Italy Registered a The temperature in Sicily on Wednesday was 48.8C (119.8F) – As the anticyclone “Lucifer” moved across the country, it broke the record high set in Greece in 1977, which is considered a new record in Europe. Anticyclones are areas of high pressure that bring dry and hot weather in summer.
Italian firefighters continue to fight hundreds of fires in the southern part of the country, especially in Sicily and Calabria. Firefighters said there were more than 500 fire reports overnight. So far, the fire in Italy has killed four people.
According to news agencies, the burnt body of a 79-year-old man was found in Reggio Calabria on Wednesday, while another 77-year-old man died in the same area after trying to protect his cattle from the flames. .
Their deaths were caused by a 53-year-old woman and her 35-year-old nephew who also died in Reggio Calabria. They died last Friday to save the family’s olive grove.
Now, the Mediterranean heat wave is shifting westward, and three wildfires are raging Spain On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the temperature in the country and many parts of the south soared above 40 degrees Celsius. France.
Local officials said that when a fire broke out in the province of Tarragona in northeastern Spain, dozens of firefighters rushed to the scene with the support of four water drop planes. The fire had destroyed 40 hectares (100 acres) of protected forest.
There were two smaller fires in the northern wine region of La Rioja and another northeastern province of Zaragoza, involving two aircraft.
During the wildfires, temperatures in most parts of the country are expected to reach temperatures of about 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday. Except for three of the 17 regions in Spain, all other regions are in high temperature alarm status. According to Ruben del Campo, spokesperson for the Spanish National Meteorological Agency AEMET, the number of heat waves registered in the country from 2011 to 2020 is twice the number of heat waves recorded in the previous three decades.
FranceThe southern area has entered a high temperature warning, Portugal’The Bureau of Meteorology also warned that parts of the central and northern parts of the country and southern Algarve province are on the “highest” state of alert for wildfires.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa urged people to avoid “dangerous behavior” that could lead to wildfires.
“We know that the next few days will be tough,” he told reporters when visiting the Civil Defense headquarters on Thursday.
“We are facing permanent challenges from climate change,” he added.
Like the south Europe, North Africa has been sultry in the hot weather.
European countries have sent firefighting aircraft to Algeria Help extinguish the wildfires there Killed at least 69 people Through the mountainous Berber region. According to the authorities, the victims of the fire included at least 28 soldiers who were sent to extinguish the fire.
Algeria’s National Meteorological Service said it expects extremely hot weather to occur in more than a dozen areas, including Tizi-Uzu, by Thursday. In some areas of Algeria, the temperature is expected to reach 47 degrees Celsius (116.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
The temperature reaches 50C (122F) Tunisia, A national new high. The last high point was 48.2C (close to 119F) in 1968.
In other parts of the Mediterranean, Lebanon The recovery from the fire in late July has been added to its list of debilitating challenges.
