What happened to disabled people -Rhodes wildfires

[askmeonemoretime]

I keep reading about holidaymakers walking a few miles to the beach to be evacuated and then a mad scramble to get on the boats. But what happened to disabled people?
My DP could not walk a couple of miles or be safe in a crowd of people scrambling to get on a boat. So what happened to people like this?

They were left behind to find alternative routes out.

But there were no alternatives presumably? So they just had to risk dying?

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/read-this/greece-wildfires-british-family-caught-up-in-rhodes-inferno-speak-of-terrifying-apocalypse-movie-ordeal-4228863

Logically there would have been some cars, golf buggies etc. These will have been prioritised for the elderly/disabled, while the able bodied would have needed to walk.

Thanks, good to know.

I believe the Red Cross were assisting the less able and helping them leave the areas affected.

What happens in respect of medication if you weren’t able to get hold of that from your room before being evacuated eg insulin

I was also thinking this op.
I've had several family members who in no way could just run.

One you would have spent half an hour trying to explain what was going on and why they need tp move.

I asked this on the AMA thread and the OP said the Red Cross had been helping the infirm.

I guess most of the resorts use golf buggies which could be put to good use in helping those unable to walk!

Doctors and pharmacies.

But in the hotels that were "fine" then moments later people told to run in swimwear... How did fhe red cross help them? They wouldn't have known or been there?

Same as what happens in any life or death situation if it comes to that. Volunteers and rescue teams would do what they could, but if it really comes down to having to run to safety then it’s the fittest who make it out. I’m hoping there was enough notice so that volunteers could get to everyone who wasn’t able to make it out themselves.

God help them all 🤞I hope things start improving soon. Such a worry

There is a post on another thread where someone had to come home in their swimwear

DH is tetraplegic I can’t even begin to think how we would have coped. I am ultra risk averse so maybe would have preempted the issue once we knew the fires were happening (getting things together moving out of the area etc) and to be honest Greece is ridiculously inaccessible so we dont travel there in the first place.
I get the point though how to manage in an emergency in general. It is a massive concern for everything we do particularly travelling abroad. I have been thinking of the implications for DH in the current situation and it would have been horrific. I do feel for everyone caught up in it.

I have read about people leaving hotels while other people were still in the pool.

I'm sure somewhere in Europe would have provision for the disabled, very young and elderly. It was an emergency situation handled well, from the looks of the news this morning.

Very young isn't an issue. Parents just carry babies and toddlers. You can't do that with an adult.

Did you just make that up?

I was in a forest fire in Spain in 2003 and when the fire came we had to bang on the doors of the houses around us to wake our elderly neighbours - I remember my mum screaming at us to stay in the car but we ran after her because we were scared. We managed to walk/carry the wife to our car but her husband had to wait to be carried by 2 firefighters and 2 neighbours as we couldn't lift him. My mum grabbed the zimmer frame and cane by the front door we didn't have time to get the wheelchair so that was left behind and we didn't know how to fold the zimmer frame so I remember vividly that I had it on top of me unfolded as we drove. A situation like that becomes survival of the fittest and fires move faster than you can drive a car when the wind gets up.

Nope

There was an interview on BBC Radio 4 this morning, replayed a few times, where a woman who described her husband as "not very well" had to find an alternative to walking along the beach - whether he waited for rescue, made his own way with help or was just a bit slower than the rest of the family was not specified.

Although there are wheelchair accessible areas around the tourist-y bits, a large portion of Greece is not that brilliant for the mobility impaired

https://travelthegreekway.com/greece-for-mobility-impaired-people/

But plenty of people go on holiday and never leave the resort or only leave on guided day trips by coach. A resort holiday is popular with disabled people for this reason.
For us the kids can play in the pool and i and disabled DP can get a proper rest. As long as the hotel is accessible that is all that matters.

And many people like DP do not need a wheelchair, but could not walk miles to the beach.

There were some older/less able people on TV last night. They'd got to the beach but then told their family to go ahead and that if needs be they'd get in the sea. Sounds awful.

They were helping those with additional needs. Considering the situation they have handled it well and the tour operators are doing their best but they can't magic extra hotels hence using sports halls etc. the Greek authorities haven't helped though, still insisting it's fine to come to the north of Rhodes! Ultimately these things do happen and it's scary if you are caught up in it, it's one of the reasons why travelling without an able bodied companion is a risk, I understand why some choose to but unexpected events do occur