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The President of the Republic Mr. Nicos Christodoulides visited tonight, immediately after his arrival in Cyprus from Jordan, the Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (RSRC) in Larnaca, where he was briefed on the efforts to extinguish the major fires in the Paphos District.
After being briefed by the heads of the fire-fighting operation, the President of the Republic in his statements to journalists said: "I have been briefed by the head of the Fire Service and the three Ministers who are here. The Minister of Justice is on his way to Paphos following instructions."
I have also spoken to the Minister of Interior, and a survey of all the damage has been started. I have spoken to the Presidents of the four communities affected, the community in Psathi, Houlou, Agios Demetriano and Polemi.
The situation has not yet been controlled. Superhuman efforts are being made, we have asked for help.
To thank the Greek Government for having responded. Already the aircraft are in Rhodes and tomorrow morning they will be in Cyprus.
The same from Jordan, where I was. The King responded immediately to our request. Tomorrow morning reinforcements will be in Paphos and from Jordan and tonight there will be teams on standby in all communities.
In some communities we will choose not to have our fellow citizens return to their homes tonight. The safety of citizens is the priority.
Already, as I said, I have spoken with both the Minister of Interior and the head of the Civil Defense, so that they can be transferred to hotels. Our priority is the safety of the citizens.
I have also spoken to some residents in the community of Psathi, where unfortunately their houses have been completely destroyed. I repeat, the relevant Services of the Republic are already there to make the records and the state will immediately respond."
Asked if a solution will be found so that a large number of firefighting aircraft will be permanently available, the President said: "I should mention, because it is very important, that this fire had been identified by a Forestry Department flight vehicle as part of the daily investigation that is carried out, precisely so that we can move proactively. I can't confirm that at this time, but it appears, based on the information that I had from the conversations that I mentioned to you, that it came from an illegal bushfire.
I've mentioned this before, 90% of cases, maybe more, start from the human factor. So, we all have a responsibility to prevent such phenomena. From then on, air assets were used, which were at the disposal of the Republic of Cyprus, there was an immediate response from neighbouring states. I want to thank them publicly.
There is the issue of tenders. You understand that if we do not go out to bid, there will be criticism because we did not go out to bid. If you go out to bid, there will be appeals."
The Republic of Cyprus will acquire something that it should have had for years, its own means of flight."
In response to a journalist's remark that the important thing is prevention, the President of the Republic said: "The important thing right now, our priority, is human lives. No one, none of our fellow citizens should be in danger. From there we will see everything else and certainly prevention, when we talk about fires, is the most important thing."
(RM/NZ/GS)
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