Athens: Emergency Measures for Residents, Visitors to Stay Safe During Heatwave

Municipality of Athens cooling station at Syntagma Square.

TheMunicipality of Athens has announced a series of emergency measures aiming to protect Athenian residents and visitors from the heatwave expected to affect the Greek capital until the beginning of next week.

Following the heatwave management plan announced by the Greek Civil Protection General Secretariat, the Athens Municipality announced the following measures:

• The municipality’s cooling station at Syntagma Square will continue to offer free chilled bottles of water to residents and visitors. Over 36,000 bottles have been offered since July 11.
• The seven municipal friendship clubs that acted as Cooling Centers during the previous heatwave, will extend their opening hours from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM and will be open for all. Municipal health experts will be on site to assist the club’s visitors in case their health is affected by the heatwave.

• The “Help at Home+” program employees will remain on call to assist any elderly with extreme heat symptoms. They will be assisted by Red Cross volunteers. Those who want to visit the air-conditioned friendship clubs can contact 210 5210631, 210 5287800, 210 5277000, or 1595 for more information, or other heatwave – related assistance and support.
• A special helpline has been set up at the Municipal Medical Centers through which advice and instructions for dealing with health problems will be provided to all citizens, and especially to those belonging to vulnerable groups. It will run daily from 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM at 210 3638049.
• A micro website in Greek and English has been created to support everyone during the heatwave: coolathens.cityofathens.gr.

• Residents and visitors are advised to download the EXTREMA Global free app, which provides real-time information on the temperature and heat wave category of the day, precautionary instructions, an Athens map with the nearest cool spots (such as fountains, parks), the coolest routes to each destination through shady, tree-covered roads, and more. The app also provides information on the city’s air pollution levels. It operates in 6 languages and has built-in locations of the city’s most popular attractions and museums.
• Streetwork municipal nurses, psychologists, social workers, and volunteers will run four shifts daily to offer water, meals, and first aid to homeless people who do not want to use the municipal facilities designed for those in need.
• Waste collection hours will take place only during early morning hours or late at night and not between 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Business owners and residents are kindly asked to not throw out the garbage, especially in municipal bins that are at full capacity, during the heatwave.
• Municipal employees in the cleaning, road construction, and other outside work will not work between 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM, while contractors running municipal projects are expected to cease any outside work during the same hours.
• The municipality has added 150 extra water stations for stray animals around the city’s neighborhoods, while its new parks offer running water and specially designed bird houses.

Photo source: Municipality Of Athens.

In addition, mixed units with municipal police officers, technicians, and cleaning municipal employees will run multiple lookout shifts on a 24-hour basis around Athens’ parks, hills, and public spaces, while drones will monitor the city’s temperature during the heatwave, with a focus on its hills and parks.