GREECE WILDFIRES USAID SITUATION REPORT 2 - SECOND BURNED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ATHENS 002143 SIPDIS AIDAC SIPDIS DEPARTMENT ALSO PASS TO USAID/W, USAID/W FOR A/AID HFORE DCHA/AA FOR MHESS, GGOTTLIEB DCHA/OFDA FOR KLUU, AFERRARA, ACONVERY, RANDREW, MMICHAUD STATE FOR EUR/EX, EUR/SE, EUR/ACE AGRICULTURE FOR MREY, GKIMBALL, THARBOUR, SSAVOLAINE FAS For RCURTIS GENEVA FOR NKYLOH, RMA USUN FOR TMALEY NSC FOR PMARCHAM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR SENV XG ZL GR SUBJECT: GREECE WILDFIRES USAID SITUATION REPORT 2 - SECOND BURNED AREAS EMERGENCY RESPONSE TECHNICAL TEAM VISIT REFS: A) ATHENS 1687 B) ATHENS 1700 C) ATHENS 1707 D)ATHENS 1800 -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. The 2007 wildfire season in Greece was the worst on record, killing 76 people, destroying nearly 3,000 buildings, and burning 327,000 hectares on Evia Island, Crete and the Western Peloponnese. The Greek Ministries of National Economy and Agricultural Development estimated that the total damage to the agriculture sector alone may exceed EURO 1.5 billion (more than USD 2.1 billion). ¶2. On August 27, U.S. Embassy Charge d'Affaires a.i. Thomas Countryman declared a disaster as a result of the wildfires. In response, USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) provided more than $750,000 in emergency relief supplies and committed an additional $1.35 million to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS) International Programs Office through the Disaster Assistance Support Program (DASP) for fire fighting equipment and technical assistance to support the GoG's fire management and disaster response capabilities. ¶3. According to the second U.S. technical team, which traveled to Greece in October 2007, some GoG agencies and Greek organizations have capacity to obtain remote sensing (RS) data, but do not appear to have the ability to process it into secondary burn severity models. The team further noted that minimal coordination and communication mechanisms exist among GoG ministries, within the community of public and private organizations addressing fire-related issues, and between national, regional, and local responders. Overall disaster response systems could be strengthened through Incident Command System (ICS) trainings. In addition, public awareness on wildfires can be further strengthened. (End Summary) -------------- U.S. Technical Assistance and Cooperation -------------- ¶4. At the GoG's request, and in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy in Athens, USAID/OFDA deployed a six-person interagency technical team from September 2 - 9 to assess the impact of the wildfires, evaluate potential hazards created by newly burned terrain, and identify technical cooperation possibilities with the GoG to address the current emergency and longer term wildfire management. Noting steep and potentially unstable slopes in many burned areas of the Peloponnese, the team recommended follow-on evaluations of landslide and flooding hazards in fire-affected areas, specifically through the preparation of burn severity maps based on remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) data (REFTEL). ¶5. Between September 9 and October 14, USFS technical team members worked closely with the USFS Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC),and the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resource Observation and Science Center, to obtain pre- and post-burn satellite imagery (LANDSAT) of wildfire-affected areas of Greece. Following up on interest expressed by GoG officials, RSAC processed this imagery and developed burn severity maps for most of the wildfire-affected areas in Greece. ¶6. From October 13 to 26, a second USAID/OFDA and USFS team traveled to Greece to demonstrate how the satellite-derived images and burn ATHENS 00002143 002 OF 004 severity models could be used to identify areas at highest risk for subsequent flooding, landslides, and debris flows. This information could then be used to prioritize GoG response efforts and resources. To accomplish this task, the team traveled to Olympia, in the western Peloponnese region, where many of the most severe fires occurred. ¶7. The U.S. team spent seven days in Olympia, Ilia Prefecture, working with four Greek Forestry officials from national and prefecture offices to assess newly generated flood, landslide, and soil erosion risks in the Kladeos River watershed. (Note: Greek officials initially focused on Ilia, as the region suffered the majority of damage with roughly 43 percent of the region's forest lost to the fires. The Kladeos watershed site, within Ilia, was then chosen by Greek officials due to its proximity to Ancient Olympia, an international cultural treasure situated at the confluence of the Kladeos and Alpheios rivers. End Note.) ¶8. The U.S. Team shared USFS Burned Area EmergencyResponse (BAER) assessment tools and processe, which included identifying values at risk, field validation of burn severity mapping, information integration with locally available topographical and geological data, slope stability and erosion modeling, high risk area identification, and possible treatment options. ¶9. Following the case study, the U.S. team and Greek Forestry officials jointly presented their findings in Patras to representatives from the office of the Secretary General of the Periphery of Western Greece, as well as to officials responsible for the construction, maintenance, and funding of public works projects in Western Greece. In Athens, the U.S. team also presented findings to the Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food, the Director General from the Greek Forestry Service Department, and other technical representatives from the Greek Forestry Service. ¶10. In addition to discussion with Greek Forestry officials, the team also met with representatives of the GoG General Secretariat for Civil Protection, Department of Emergency Planning; Olympia Hellenic Fire Brigade representatives; staff from local non-governmental organizations (NGOs); and geological experts from the local polytechnic university. -------------- Findings and Recommendation -------------- Remote Sensing Imagery and GIS ¶11. Finding: Greek Forest Service counterparts were interested in the BAER team's Burn Severity mapping process, particularly the speed with which these maps can be generated to help prioritize areas, and expressed interest in building local capacity to generate such maps. In addition to training on how to process these maps, the U.S. technical team noted that the GoG faces larger institutional challenges in building overall remote sensing capacity. ¶12. The U.S. team determined that GoG agencies and other Greek organizations have access to RS and GIS maps but do not have formalized relationships with either national or European agencies for processing the data for further image analysis. Meeting participants also noted a lack of coordination for sharing GIS and RS information among various GoG ministries and between national, local, and academic institutions. In addition, meeting participants noted an age gap in the GoG's attitudes toward new technologies, with junior officials more open to new technologies, such as GIS and ATHENS 00002143 003 OF 004 RS, than senior GoG officials. The U.S. team was impressed with the GIS capacity of individual GoG officials, some of whom were self-taught, and were overall convinced that Greece has the capacity to obtain, process, and utilize post-fire imagery if it supports its employees in training, software, and hardware. ¶13. Recommendation: Remote sensing technological transfer is a possible collaborative opportunity but would require a commitment from the Greek government to further support GIS and RS capacity building in order for the maps and data to have an impact in national- and field-based decision making. Post Burn Treatments ¶14. Findings: The U.S. team noted that representatives in most of the fire-affected areas have previous experience with wild fires and flood-management and have developed methods of addressing post-fire risks and flood hazards, such as installing river level sensors to warn of possible floods. The technical assistance team observed that the two most immediate post fire treatments used in Greece are log erosion barriers (LEB) and check dams. These techniques are used in the United States, but sparingly. The Kladeos Watershed case study exposed the Greek participants to additional treatments, including mulching, debris dams, and debris risers. In post-workshop briefings, the Greek Forestry officials recommended further exploration of these treatments, in particular investigating mulching. ¶15. Recommendations: USFS can provide further information on mulching and other treatments that may be appropriate for Greece. A complementary monitoring program could be developed to assess the effectiveness of new or ongoing treatments. Incident Command Systems and Overall Coordination ¶16. Findings: Discussions in both Athens and the field reiterated a finding from the first U.S. technical team mission to Greece: coordination and clarification of roles and responsibilities during fire suppression activities could be improved. The current mission noted coordination and communication issues also exist during post fire assessment activities. Dialogue between the prefectures, the Ministry of Interior, the Hellenic Fire Brigade, and the Greek Forestry Service could be strengthened, as could the dialogue among different GoG ministries. Fire Suppreon Tactics ¶17. FindQade, who had primQoG interest was non-committal. During the second team visit, GoG officials communicated that the GoG would be interested in exploring fire-suppression tools, such as fire retardant. ¶18. Recommendations: USFS should continue its dialogue with fire fighting units to explore further fire tactical trainings and use of fire retardant. -------------- Conclusion -------------- ¶19. The US Technical Team is preparing a final report that will be distributed back to GoG agencies and the U.S. Embassy in Athens to ATHENS 00002143 004 OF 004 help outline possible next step activities. COUNTRYMAN