by Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Greek authorities are struggling to aid thousands of homeless refugees as the country remained on Tuesday in the grip of cold wave.
The Acropolis hill in Athens was closed to visitors on Tuesday morning. Several schools in Attica region remained closed and motorists were advised to avoid accidents due to the sleet.
With the temperature plunging as low as minus 22 degrees in the city of Florina in northern Greece and around zero in most of the mainland and the islands, many villages in mountainous regions and suburbs of Athens have been cut off due to heavy snowfall, according to meteorological authorities.
Among the regions hit the hardest were the Greek islands of Skopelos and Alonissos in the western Aegean, where a state of emergency was declared.
Authorities have taken emergency measures to help the most vulnerable to weather through the cold front. Across Greece, shelters were opened for 25,000 homeless and some of the refugees.
In the greater Athens area the problems caused by the heavy snowfall throughout the night were under control on Tuesday, Ioanna Tsoupra, head of the civil protection committee of the Regional Government of Attica, told Xinhua.
"There was no street which was not covered in snow ... However, our response mechanism was on alert so we managed to have a limited number of problems to clear all streets soon and all main avenues are open," she said.
Regarding the homeless in the years of the debt crisis, she explained that many heated spaces were open during the cold snap.
Authorities are also assessing the situation of the more than 62,000 refugees and migrants currently stranded in Greece. They are accommodated in dozens of facilities across the country. About 15,000 people are living in overcrowded hotspots on the northern Aegean Sea islands which have been hit hard by the cold front in the past few days.
The UNHCR announced on Tuesday that some 130 pregnant women with toddlers, disabled, elderly and patients suffering from chronic illnesses were transferred from snow-covered tents in Moria camp on Lesvos to hotels on other parts of the island.
Authorities have also stepped up efforts to set up more heated tents inside the camp and provide more assistance to the refugees across Greece amid fierce criticism by NGOs of lack of adequate preparation in time for the winter.
"We call on Greek authorities and the EU to enact emergency measures immediately to ensure that all refugees and migrants on the islands are housed in dignified living conditions," Clement Perrin, the head of mission of the Doctors Without Borders said in a press release.
