Severe wildfires near Athens, Greece: OlamAid & ZWST provide relief

Over the past few days, Greece has been affected by the worst wildfires of the year. The wildfires, which broke out near Varnavas on Sunday, August 11, 2024, are raging at a rapid pace in the Attica region near the capital Athens. The devastating fires have already claimed the life of one woman, destroyed thousands of hectares of land, and forced many people to flee their homes. Despite a slight stabilisation of the situation, the risk of fire remains high due to the extreme temperatures.

Since 2023, OlamAid and ZWST, with the support of ADH, have been implementing a natural disasters prevention and response project - with a special focus on wildfires - in four different locations in Greece. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of local communities to respond to natural disasters.

OlamAid's emergency response on the ground 

OlamAid, in collaboration with ZWST and local partner KEAN, immediately initiated assistance to the affected communities:

• Emergency Relief: We provided essential relief supplies to affected communities.
• Supporting the establishment of a resilience and distribution center: We are supporting the establishment of a center to provide assistance to the community in building resilience and to organize the distribution of relief items.‍
• Assessing PSS trainings: We are currently exploring the possibility of training local relief teams and authorities to provide psychosocial support (PSS) more effectively and build community resilience in the long term.