The collection of dead animals in Thessaly has reached 75%, according to figures cited by the Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Evangelos Tournas, answering earlier today in the Parliament, to a topical question of the President of Freedom of Life Navigation Konstantopoulou.

“The Ministry of Rural Development was immediately mobilized together with the competent Minister, the Deputy Ministers and the General Secretaries. They recorded the losses and proceeded to collect the dead animals for burial and burning. One hundred and ten thousand dead animals and one hundred and thirty-five thousand birds were declared. At the moment the collection has reached 75% and there are still those who are in stagnant waters and those who, as usual, have been declared surplus“, said Tournas and informed that in the deadly floods “one hundred and ten thousand animals were lost against one million seven hundred thousand that are registered and declared in the region of Thessaly.

“In other words, only 7% of the livestock was lost from Thessaly and of course a much smaller percentage compared to the nationwide number“, said the Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection.

During the debate, the President of Plevsis Eleftherias, Zoe Konstantopoulou, called on the deputy minister to answer specifically what the government’s plan was when it was known that severe bad weather was imminent.

“What exactly was predicted to happen in Thessaly? Which plan had you decided to implement? Did you implement this plan? Is what people experience the result of design or is it the result of lack of design?Zoi Konstantopoulou addressed the Deputy Minister.

“All scientists argue that the disaster that hit Thessaly was unprecedented and no flood control project could withstand“, said Mr. Tournas and added: “the Ministry moved in advance, activated the state mechanism of civil protection immediately three days before the arrival of DANIEL, deployed the forces in time, informed the citizens through 112 after recommendations of the mayors and rescued more than three and a half thousand inhabitants of the regions. Of course, it worked extremely well and the staff state, which you are mocking, worked crucially and effectively both in the coordination of the competent bodies, before the arrival of DANIEL and during it, sending to the Coordination Center of Larissa half of the Council of Ministers with all co-competent Ministers and all agencies for both the treatment and the restoration, in which we are at the present stage, of the wounds of the region».

“You answer me that the staff state worked, but we lost seventeen people, one hundred and ten thousand animals and one hundred and thirty-five thousand birds, it will say that these were part of your plan and I find this creepy”, commented the president of Freedom of Navigation and added: “I remember another Minister, Mr. Tosca, who, with one hundred and four victims in Mati, unflinchingly came out and said: ‘Everything worked well, I can’t find any operational error.’ And the other day, being examined in court, he was trying stupidly to reconstruct these terrible phrases of his. Let the world judge. He experiences traumatic situations».

“No, Mrs. Konstantopoulou! We operated on time, we went out on time, we deployed our forces on time, but, unfortunately, the phenomenon was such that it overtook us in many cases”, Mr. Tournas insisted and added: “In the region of Thessaly there is the most numerous number of services, echelons and stations with staff who were 100% available, because they were already on standby. So, this mechanism was out there, but it was powerless to react, powerless to attempt because the phenomenon was beyond its capabilities.».

“Will you hire the two and a half thousand seasonal firefighters you have in the fire with 562 euros a month on average? 112, sir, went to Palamas Karditsas after the flood. If people waited for 112, they would all have drowned. They testify to it themselves. Now are you kidding that the Mayor didn’t suggest it? Is this the line of defense after all? Didn’t Mayor Palamas suggest it, that’s why it went late? Or should they evacuate their homes from Monday? Did you send them an evacuate message on Monday, or did you send them a beware message?Zoe Konstantopoulou asked for answers.

“Seasonality is something associated with the Fire Service when demands increase. All countries in the world do this and have seasonal firefighters to cover the needs of forest firefighting during the summer months. We have extended it and made it six months. We have told these people that too“, answered the Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and added:

“Before the arrival of “Daniel”, from Saturday we had the meetings, we got in touch with everyone. Shall I tell you something? We made situations even with the areas where there are camps or campsites and notified them one by one that you get out of there because you are in a flood zone, you have a problem. Twelve hours ago we sent the first warning message to all residents and the rest of the messages followed. And thanks to this 112 many human lives were saved. We rescued three and a half thousand people, eight hundred of them by helicopters».