NEWS

Pieria: Damage totals 30 mln

The provincial road network, wharves, fish farms, water supply and irrigation systems all met with destruction in the prefecture of Pieria. It was the heaviest damage the prefecture has suffered, with damage totaling almost 30 million euros. The initial estimate of the cost of repairing the damage to southeastern Pieria (Elafina, eastern Olympus and Dion) is 14.4 million euros. So far, the prefecture has received 185,000 euros. Emergency compensation Private owners have also incurred losses to the tune of 3.85 million euros, but, so far, have received only 510 euros each in emergency aid. The case of the three Agrafiotis brothers in Platamona Pieria is typical. They watched a torrent of water crush the walls of their three-story house, stones, wood and mud filling the rooms, and water flushing all their household goods outside. «The mountain came and took away our home,» says professional fisherman Nikolaos Agrafiotis (96,000 euros in damage). «And for a catastrophe that was a record for Pieria, we got 510 euros. We are waiting for compensation. What else can we do?» Farmer Nikolaos Evangelou from Dion had the painful experience of seeing his crops buried in mud, and props man N. Sarayiannidis lost the electrical and mechanical equipment for the prefecture’s cultural events (Olympus Festival). «I’m not expecting compensation,» he says. «I’m pessimistic. My losses amount to 45,000 euros and I won’t get a cent.»

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