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Desperate Greeks Look to TV for Help

Posted Aug 30, 07 11:17 AM CDT in World 

(Newser) – Desperate Greeks have resorted to calling TV stations with pleas for rescue from wildfires that have been raging for the past week, Der Spiegel reports, highlighting what one critic calls a "deep mistrust of the capability of the state machine." And the stations have gotten results: "Wherever we broadcast live links, helicopters would come and drop water," says one reporter.

As the government struggles to contain blazes that have killed at least 64 and destroyed half a million acres, TV stations have become the country's best crisis-coordination centers. "In the name of God and Mary, do something! We've been asking for help since Friday," one caller begged a station. "We are 40 people and we will burn."

Source Der Spiegel

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A firefighting helicopter flies by a hillside fire near the village of Thisoa, Peloponnese, Greece, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Athens, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007. Winds relented throughout...   (Associated Press)
The fire burns across the road near the village of Kato Kotili, central Peloponnese, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Athens, Greece, early Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007. Winds relented throughout...   (Associated Press)
Farmers try to extingush the fire in the village of Varvasaina, Greece, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007. Varvasaina was at the middle of a vast series of fires burning out of control in the country's southern Peloponnese...   (Associated Press)
A hillside fire rages on near the village of Kato Kotili, Peloponnese, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Athens, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007. Winds relented throughout Greece Wednesday, enabling...   (Associated Press)
Aggeliki Gianakopoulou walks through what is left of her house after a fire swept through the village of Rafti in the Peloponnese, Greece, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007. Several villages in the area were evacuated...   (Associated Press)
A woman watches a firefighting helicopter from her house during a fire in the village of Thisoa, in the Peloponnese, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Athens, Greece, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007....   (Associated Press)
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television • wildfires • Greece • Peloponnese • Greece fires


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