Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis attended a one-year memorial service on Tuesday at the wildfire-ravaged Mati settlement in eastern Attica prefecture – due east of Athens proper – where up to 102 died during the blaze and in its aftermath, many drowning just off the coast.
Mitsotakis and other attending office-holders did not make statements after the Church service, while a series of relief measures were later announced, such as exclusion from property taxes for affected property owners, releasing 31 million euros in an emergency fund for the injured and guaranteeing continuing treatment and medicines for burn victims.
The Mati catastrophe emerged as a huge political handicap for the previous Tsipras government, with the two main criticisms being, firstly, the lack of an order to evacuate the settlement by any relevant authority, and secondly, allegations that the government and law enforcement leadership attempted to conceal or downplay the disaster the same evening and in the subsequent days.
Ministers, emergency services directors and much of the pro-government media at the time initially pointed to a concerted arson plan, the effects of climate change and even the haphazard way the coastal and pine-covered settlement developed over the decades without strict town planning regulations.
