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AHEPA Chapter #31 presents POLIS - The Queen of Cities, A Musical Tribute to the Fall of Constantinople on Friday, 5/10/24 at Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC. Reserved pew seating tickets now on sale exclusively at DCGreeks.com!
Join Greeks and Philhellenes from over the Midwest and beyond from 5/17/24 - 5/19/24 in Cleveland, OH for three days of parties at the first annual Midwest Greeks event!  Ticket packages are now on sale exclusively at DCGreeks.com! Click here for details!
St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Bethesda, MD invites you to our Greek Festival 2024 on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, 2024 at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bethesda, MD. Click here for details!
VSK Entertainment Presents Antypas Live in DC with Prodromos & Evgenia at Karma DC Live Music Venue on Friday, 4/5/24!  Reserved table, couch, and general admission tickets on sale exclusively at DCGreeks.com!
What's New @ DCGreeks.com
03/12Tickets are now on sale for POLIS - The Queen of Cities: A Musical Tribute to the Fall of Constantinople on May 10, 2024 at Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC!
03/11Tickets are now on sale for The Path of the Sacred Passion: A Byzantine Music Concert on April 20, 2024 at St. Katherine's in Falls Church, VA!
03/04Tickets are now on sale for Midwest Greeks 2024 from May 17-19, 2024 in Cleveland, OH!
02/24New Event: Chios Societies of the Americas & Canada 67th Annual Convention from October 11-13, 2024, in Washington, DC!
02/17New Event: St. George's Greek Festival 2024 on 5/18/24 & 5/19/24 in Bethesda, MD
02/07New Event: AHI 50th Anniversary Gala Weekend, April 12-13, 2024, in Washington, DC, featuring Mario Frangoulis in Concert and Hellenic Heritage Achievement and National Public Service Awards Dinner
01/15Tickets are now on sale for DCGreeks.com Greek Heritage Night with the Washington Wizards 2024 on 4/2/24 as they take on Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks!
01/14Tickets are now on sale for Antypas Live in DC with Prodromos & Evgenia on 4/5/24 at Karma DC Live Music Venue in Washington, DC!
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St. Katherine presents The Path of the Sacred Passion, a Byzantine Music Concert featuring Stelios Kontakiotis, Spiros Perivolaris, and Georgios Theodoridis on Saturday, 4/20/24, inside St. Katherine's Greek Orthodox Church in Falls Church, VA. General Admission tickets now on sale at DCGreeks.com!

The Daily Gyro
Updated Daily on Greek Time

August 30, 2007

Greece Is Burning

To those of us with Greek satellite television or who follow news from Greece, we've known about fires blazing in Greece all summer.  As bad as it sounds, Greeks have become a little desensitized to the annual tradition of summer forest fires, most often natural caused by the extreme dry heat coupled with the carelessness of an open flame or a lit cigarette thrown out a window.  But it wasn't until Saturday morning when CNN picked up the story when suddenly we knew that these weren't the ordinary Greek fires we're used to seeing every summer.   

How bad have the fires been?  Apparently it's been an unprecedented record breaking summer to the point where the fires are visible from space.  Most of the Peleoponese has been burned, an area about the size of Rhode Island to put things into perspective.  

Why are these fires happening?  Both the hot summer and arson are to blame.  According to Dimitris Karavellas, Director of the Greek World Wildlife, a "culture of arson" has grown in Greece based on the belief that burning forests is the easiest way to usurp protected land for illegal development.   

Desperate Greek villagers are trying to stop these fires by any means necessary, including using wine.    In Athens, thousands protested on Wednesday. The Greek Government has been under attack over their response to the fires ahead of the upcoming national elections.  

Greek-Americans are responding.  Two relief funds that have spread across the internet are through AHEPA and the Archdiocese.  AHEPA has a link for monetary contributions on its website and has also calling on its Chapters to prepare care packages for the Red Cross to ship to Greece.  The Archdiocese Greek Fire Relief Fund also allows for online donation.  

As far as any national attention about this tragedy amongst the non-Greek population here in the United States, there seems to be little or no awareness amongst most Americans about the fires at this time.  (Ironically our national consciousness is focused, if only a little, on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.)  NBC Nightly News did devote some time on Tuesday night to the story, sending Maria Menounos, a Today Show contributor for probably the saddest story she's had to cover, the loss of her families ancestral home in Akovos.  Oddly enough, Access Hollywood ran a clip of the Menounos piece as well.  (This sparked a quizzical response by the Mom @ DCGreeks.com, a Menounos fan, who couldn't understand the story's place on an entertainment/gossip show.  Given our culture of celebrity however, Americans are probably more apt to respond to a crisis in some other part of the world if they can identify the actress or other media personality affected or supporting the cause, so the Access Hollywood clip probably did more to bring this issue into American's living rooms even for a brief moment than all the newspaper and internet coverage could otherwise.) 

 



Other Servings of The Daily Gyro
06/30/2010
08/31/2009
08/03/2009
03/25/2009
08/28/2008
08/27/2008
08/13/2008
04/02/2008
03/25/2008
08/30/2007
08/14/2007
03/05/2007
02/14/2007
01/22/2007
11/06/2006
10/02/2006
09/18/2006
09/04/2006
09/01/2006
08/14/2006
07/13/2006
07/10/2006
06/25/2006
06/05/2006
05/03/2006
04/04/2006
03/22/2006
02/21/2006
01/30/2006
01/17/2006
01/11/2006
01/09/2006
01/05/2006
01/04/2006
12/12/2005
11/28/2005
11/16/2005
10/31/2005
10/17/2005
10/03/2005
09/12/2005
09/02/2005
08/29/2005
08/10/2005
07/27/2005
07/13/2005
07/06/2005
06/27/2005
06/13/2005
05/23/2005
05/16/2005
05/06/2005
05/02/2005
04/25/2005
04/18/2005
04/13/2005
04/08/2005
04/06/2005
04/04/2005
04/01/2005
03/30/2005
03/28/2005
03/25/2005
03/23/2005


Read past feature articles.