Aid pours in for victims
Donations for fire victims were boosted yesterday by banks as well as state and private benefactors from Greece and abroad. The Bank of Cyprus pledged 5 million euros and the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation another 5 million euros. Another 500,000 euros was pledged by the Athens Water Company (EYDAP). Spain pledged another two water-dropping aircraft. Families whose homes have been destroyed are to receive between 250 and 400 euros per month, Environment and Public Works Minister Giorgos Souflias said. The handouts are to continue until their homes are rebuilt. Farmers will receive between 1,000 and 3,000 euros per hectare of damaged land, Agriculture Minister Evangelos Bassiakos said. Meanwhile, farmers in Thessaloniki offered to send their counterparts in the fire-ravaged Peloponnese three animals each to help them rebuild their livelihoods. «We are ready to send them our animals and anything else they may need,» said Stelios Voyiatzis, president of the Union of Farmers of Eastern Thessaloniki.
