Climate Change Threat Engulfs Sardinia, Italy Through Wildfires!

Factually speaking, Climate Change in Italy hasn’t been a new development or a rude shock. Let’s rewind the clocks back to 2018, when one really felt the jolt of this great ecological malady for the first time, in that news headlines world over reported the strange phenomenon Italy was facing. 2018, immediately followed by 2019 between two of the hottest months that the southern European nation had endured. A part of it stemmed from increased industrialisation processes and the rest of it, to the changing vagaries of Mother Nature, for the latter is just how it happens often, and too often for our non-liking.

Whether one speaks of the devastating floods that wrecked parts of Italy a little over a couple of years ago or the heavy rainstorms that followed in 2018-19, there were clear signs that this was nature at its furious best, well, with only worse after-effects for those who bore the onlaught.

And now, it appears even in this COVID-riddled age where one hardly breathes a sigh of relief and anticipates with a bated breath for things to get better, there’s no relief whatsoever. So just how is that and what exactly happened this time around in Italy for the country to have made globetrotting news, perhaps not for the best of reasons?

Well, it appears that the region of Sardinia, usually described with adjectives like breathtakingly beautiful and vivacious, where sun-kissed tourists revel over wine and water splashes have been wrecked by wildfires many describe are simply ‘unprecedented!’ Truly being something none would have anticipated and the climate updates failed to track.

So how did this major ecological wrongdoing happen and how come it hampered an otherwise idyllic and charming getaway, among the favorites of countless many, in such a sudden manner?

Let’s delve directly into the details as shared by The Hindu’s Frontline magazine:

Wildfires raged through the Italian island of Sardinia on July 25, forcing emergency services to evacuate almost hundreds of people from their homes overnight. Several aircraft have been deployed to put out what the Nuova Sardegna newspaper called an “enormous fire” that has been destroying fields on the island since July 24.

Firefighters have battled to put out the blaze fanned by southwesterly winds and which, according to authorities, has already ravaged 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) around the historic central-western area of Montiferru. The island’s Governor, Christian Solinas, said around 50,000 acres of vegetation had gone up in flames, destroying several houses and killing animals.

Nearly 1,500 people were evacuated across Sardinia, broadcaster Rai News reported on July 25. There were no reports of anyone being killed or injured by the fire. Officials said some 7,500 emergency workers, including members of Italy’s forest police and the Red Cross, were helping evacuees and those at risk.

The above told, it appears that so serious have been the scenes with the otherwise hip and happening Sardinia, a vacation spot for the chosen few, those who dangle with the luxuries only money can afford, that it seems that the local population has been warned about “a possible evacuation.” This comes actually from the Mayor Paolo Pireddu.

Well, what else is the world going to face with the nature continuing to act furiously? First, there were wildfires in Australia, later in different parts of California, and now in Italy’s Sardinia. Just where is it all heading to?