Red Cross: door-to-door teams in Salamina

Two new teams from the Hellenic Red Cross have been in the fire-affected areas of Salamina since Monday, 17 August, according to an announcement from the organisation released that same afternoon. The teams are working alongside the volunteers and staff of the Salamina Regional Branch, which has been active on the island since the fire first broke out. The deployment runs in two directions. The first is medical and concerns briefing residents returning to their homes, while the second is psychosocial and is aimed at those who experienced the evacuation and the loss of property. The Red Cross says it will remain in the area for as long as needed.

Nursing staff are briefing residents on the protective measures they should take during clean-up work. The guidance includes the use of special masks and gloves, as well as checking food that may have been exposed to smoke, ash or high temperatures. This guidance is not routine: after a fire that breaks out in or near a settlement, ash can contain residue from burnt household appliances and building materials, which is why clean-up is recommended with protective equipment rather than sweeping, which stirs up dust. Residents who feel unwell are urged to seek medical help. The organisation notes that food kept in a refrigerator that was without power for an extended period, as well as food exposed to smoke, should not be consumed.

At the same time, social workers and psychologists from the organisation are making door-to-door visits to affected homes. Their goal is twofold: to offer psychosocial support and psychological first aid to people who were hastily evacuated or lost their homes, and to map the needs of each household, so that the assistance that follows is allocated based on real data rather than estimates. The home-visit method is typically used in disasters where a large part of the population does not come forward on its own to service points, either due to age or because they remain on their property.

For Salamina, this presence comes at a particularly charged moment. Sunday’s fire left two dead and ten injured, while hundreds of people were evacuated by sea from the island’s beaches. From the morning of Tuesday, 18 August, inspection teams from the General Secretariat for Natural Disaster Recovery begin assessing the damage and issuing the certifications that pave the way for the first compensation payments. The Hellenic Red Cross has announced a contact phone number for affected residents, 210 36 46 005. More coverage from the island is published on the Salamina page. It has not been announced how many households have so far received a visit from the teams, nor whether a permanent service point is planned on the island.