"Climate crisis is here:" Greek PM says as wildfires burn more than 90,000 hectares of land

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis defended his government on Thursday as public anger grew over the response to wildfires that have ripped through more than 90,000 hectares of land over the past 10 days, according to Athens National Observatory.

Mitsotakis, who this week apologized for delays in the firefighting effort, said lessons would be learned for future fires and pledged to take a series of steps, from acquiring more firefighting aircraft to overhauling forestry management.

With a string of deadly wildfires burning in countries from Turkey to Algeria, extreme weather events caused by climate change have become a central policy challenge to governments across the Mediterranean.

"The climate crisis is here, and it shows us that everything must now change, from the orientation of the economy to our national energy policy, from the functioning of the state to the daily habits of citizens that concern the environment," said Mitsotakis.

Meanwhile, Greek and foreign firefighters continued to tackle flare-ups in northern Evia on Thursday from a blaze which has already left behind more than 50,000 hectares of burned forest.

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