WATCH: Evangelo Sipsas on what happens next in Greece

After almost two weeks of devastating blazes, mass evacuations, and upended holidays, Greece's deadly wildfires have started to abate. 

But while it appears the worst of the fires are over, emergency services are still working to prevent new flare-ups in the center of the country. 

It was in the hard-hit area of Magnesia that a blaze triggered massive explosions at an ammunition depot, forcing people to flee the area and several of the Greek military's F-16 fighter jets to evacuate.

But as the flames die down, the task of reconstruction begins – rebuilding lives, homes and also finding out if anybody was responsible. 

Devastating impact

This month's wildfires, fanned by rising temperatures and strong winds, have killed five people, destroyed homes, farms and factories and scorched swathes of forest land since July 17.

On the island of Rhodes, where more than 20,000 tourists and locals fled seaside hotels and houses last weekend, the blazes have scorched about 10 percent of the island and caused millions of euros of damages. 

Standing outside the blackened shell of what used to be his restaurant on Rhodes, Dimitris Hajifotis revealed how his livelihood had been lost to the wildfires.

"My life now stopped," he said. "Everything is taken by the fire."

Inside his destroyed business in the coastal village of Gennadi, stacks of plates are covered in ash and debris near a burned-down kitchen. 

And he's not the only one to have been hard hit during Greece's all-important tourism season. 

Who's responsible?

According to Greece's minister for Citizen Protection, over 650 wildfires were recorded around the country inside just 15 days. That's about 60 wildfires a day.

And while the majority of the wildfires were likely accidents, the ministry reported that 21 people have been arrested for starting dangerous blazes. At least two were taken into custody for doing so on purpose. 

In one case, someone reportedly tried to take revenge against one of their neighbors by deliberately setting a fire which grew out of control; another was accused of throwing flammable liquid into garbage bins. 

The government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who secured his second term last month, has been keen to show a quick response, having described the country as being "at war" with the wildfires. 

While much of this has been focused on immediate emergency responses – namely putting out the blazes – it will also include rebuilding parts of the country and economy devastated by the fires. 

CGTN Europe's Evangelo Sipsas, who has been reporting from some of the worst-hit areas, explains that the government has already started to cover some of the costs for the damages. 

In the Athens area, he said much of the the damages had already been recorded and the government was trying to compensate locals as fast as they could.

However, on the islands of Rhodes, Corfu and Evia, the fires had taken longer to put out, which means that reimbursement will also be slower.

Compensation coming, but how fast?

That includes compensating the tens of thousands of tourists forced to flee the island blazes, particularly in Rhodes. 

Greece's tourism minister Olga Kefalogianni told CGTN Europe that the government would respond as fast as possible.

"We now have the know-how how to deal with this kind of situations, so we will be trying to create this program in order for the visitors who were not allowed to conclude their vacations to come back and use the voucher that they had for their vacation," she said. 

How much tourists will truly be able to get back remains unclear, but for Greek locals that rely on an industry estimated to have brought in around $20 billion last year, the speed of short-term compensation will be vital.

What about the longer-term effects of the growing incidents of wildfires? 

According to a 2021 study by Dianeosis, by the year 2050, it is estimated that the number of heatwaves will increase by 15 to 20 days per year; while the days of high fire risk will increase between 15 to 70 percent. 

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday that Greece needed to take more steps to combat the effects of climate change, stressing the need to improve fire prevention further.

Part of that is about protecting the economy. The impact of this year's blazes are yet to be fully counted, but the damages inflicted by last year's wildfires were estimated to be at least $2.2bn. 

This year's fires have been much worse. The Rhodes evacuation was the largest in the country's history, and it's only the beginning of the summer. 

And while the flames have died down in Greece for the meantime, many will be considering how sustainable it is to rebuild their lives amid the ever-growing threat of wildfires. 

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