The nightmare repeats itself every year: A towering wall of flames devours forests, farmland and homes, forcing animals and people to flee for their lives.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of at least 5.8 struck the Greek island of Crete on Monday, September 27, 2021, killing one person and injuring several others, while damaging homes and churches and causing rock slides near the country's fourth-largest city.

Hundreds of firefighters backed by water-dropping flames were battling a large forest fire burning for the second day on Tuesday, August 17, 2021, that has led to the evacuation of a care home and several villages northwest of Athens.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday, August 12, 2021, that the devastating wildfires that burned across the country for more than a week were the greatest ecological catastrophe Greece had seen in decades.

A massive wildfire burning for days on the northern tip of Greece’s second largest island continued to devour forests on Tuesday, August 10, 2021, its thick smoke hanging in the streets of a nearby town as hundreds of firefighters battled to save what they could.

Firefighters and residents battled a massive forest fire on Greece’s second largest island for a seventh day on Monday, August 8, 2021, fighting to save what they can from flames that have decimated vast tracts of pristine forest, destroyed homes and businesses and sent thousands fleeing.

Thousands of people fled wildfires burning out of control in Greece and Turkey on Friday, August 6, 2021, as a protracted heat wave turned forests into tinderboxes and flames threatened populated areas, electricity installations and historic sites.

Firefighters in Greece raced on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, to fully contain a wildfire on the outskirts of Athens that destroyed or seriously damaged dozens of homes overnight, forced thousands to flee, and threatened a former royal palace, as high temperatures fueled wildfires across the country.