ATHENS, July 24. /TASS/. The Greek government has provided €20 million for emergency assistance to victims in case of catastrophic forest fires that occurred Monday in the suburbs of Athens. This was announced on Tuesday the official representative of the Cabinet of Ministers Dimitris Tzanakopoulos the results of the government meeting on the subject chaired by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

According to Tzanakopoulos, “the meeting approved the allocation of €20 million from the funds of the Ministry of Finance to the special account of the Ministry of internal Affairs to meet the immediate needs of municipalities and their citizens affected by the fires.” “On this account the funds will come from government agencies or from private persons, as there is a huge interest in the practical manifestation of solidarity both inside the country and from abroad”, – explained the official representative.

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As he said, from this account will be funded the repair or compensation of material damage caused by the elements. “The exact size of the state’s participation will be announced in the following days after a General assessment of the situation,” – said Tzanakopoulos. For a quick completion of the counting of damages already on Tuesday at the site there are 180 specialists of the Ministry of infrastructure and transport, Greece, and from Wednesday they will join another 120 such workers, said a spokesman of the Cabinet, declaring and benefits, tax and financial considerations for the affected families.

Tzanakopoulos also said that “the meeting decided on the formation of 19 joint patrols involving police officers, firefighters and military to effectively protect the affected areas”.

As reported on Tuesday, citing firefighters of Athens Macedonian news Agency, the number of victims of forest fires in Greece has risen to 74 people, 187 people, including 23 children, were injured.

In Greece since the beginning of July the weather is hot, in recent days, the thermometer rises to 38-40 degrees. Monday around Athens have been two fires (in the town of Kineta 50 km West of Athens, in Eastern Attica and in the area of Kalamos), also large forest fires recorded in other parts of Greece – three pockets in the region of Corinthia in the Peloponnese and near the city of Chania on the island of Crete, but they pose no danger to human settlements. Fire the second day trying hard to cope with all the remaining pockets of fire.