ALGIERS, August 12 – 73 people were reported killed as of Thursday after forest fires since the start of the week have devastated regions of northern Algeria amid drought and high temperatures, authorities reported to the media. Sweetened.
About 30 deaths related to soldiers were urgently sent to the city of Tizi Ouzou, in the Greater Kabylie region, the site of the accidents, to cooperate with firefighters in putting out the blaze, Telesur said.
The Kabylie region is known for its settlement of Berbers, who are ethnic groups from North Africa, who have their own language and culture and have a nomadic life.
Algerian Prime Minister Ayman Ben Abdel Rahman arrived in the disaster area with a delegation of senior officials charged with assessing the situation and preparing a rapid response to the disaster caused by the fires that are repeated in several states along the Mediterranean coast.
Interior Minister Kamel Balloud explained that behind the fires were “criminals full of hatred” towards Algeria. “Only criminal hands are behind 50 fires that break out at the same time in different parts of the province,” he said.
Likewise, the Tizi Ouzou authorities warned of the outbreak of fires. “It is impossible, in our experience, that the causes of these fires are natural. Head of the Forest Service, Youssef Ould Mohamed, said that the fires were caused by a criminal act.
Rescue and fire suppression efforts are hampered by difficult access to the area, drought causing deep water shortages and high temperatures sometimes exceeding 40°C in the middle of a hotter than usual summer with little environmental humidity.
Telesur added that in addition to the deaths and hospitalizations with burns and symptoms of suffocation, a large section of the Berber population, which is another name for the Berbers, was displaced, and shelter camps were established for them.
For its part, La Vanguardia newspaper reported that Greece and Turkey have been the countries most affected by the fires in the past two weeks on the northern coast of the Mediterranean, and are on alert due to historical temperatures.
Slight dips in temperature and rain, albeit short, helped on the Greek island of Euboea, hardest hit by the fire, as firefighters focus on quelling the outbreak. Preliminary estimates indicate that 90,000 hectares have been burned across the country, an unprecedented environmental disaster.
Sicily, Italy, is another focus of concern due to rising temperatures. The city of Syracuse, south of the island, had a temperature of 48.8 degrees on Wednesday, a figure that, if not confirmed, would mark a new record in Europe after 48 degrees for Athens in 1977.
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