(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-01 09:46

ATHENS, Greece -- Promises of aid poured in from around Greece and overseas Friday as firefighters doused most of the huge wildfires that ravaged the Greek countryside for a week, killing 64 people.

Relatives mourn the death of Filippos and Ionna, 5, and their grandmother Ionna Alexandropoulou, 70, who died in fires, during their funeral in Artemida, Peloponnese, Greece, Friday, Aug. 31, 2007. [AP]

The European Union said Greece would probably receive $237 million in emergency aid and could be eligible for $546 million more, depending on the amount of damage caused by the fires.

The US Agency for International Development said it was providing $1.3 million in equipment and technical assistance, while the Greek government said China promised $1 million.

Damage was estimated at more than $1.6 billion.

"The fight is not yet over, but things are better," Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said. "We must now think of the day after."

Karamanlis, who faces a close race for re-election in less than three weeks, promised to rebuild all homes destroyed by the fires through a new disaster relief fund made up of state and private contributions.

"We will try ... to help these people who have lost a part of their life to regain it," he said. "This is our commitment."

Karamanlis said all burned forest land would be designated for reforestation - through protected natural regrowth or replanting - while action would be taken to protect affected areas from flooding and ground erosion.

The fire department said two last major fires, near the village of Kato Kotyli and on Mount Parnon in the southern Peloponnese peninsula were receding, although winds had rekindled some smaller blazes.

"While we have high temperatures and strong winds, there is a threat of these fronts being reactivated," Fire Department spokesman Nikos Diamandis said.

More than 469,000 acres of forest, olive groves and scrubland were destroyed over the past week, more than during any single year since record-keeping started in the 1950s.

Initial government estimates indicated at least 1,500 houses were gutted in the worst-hit areas: the southern Peloponnese peninsula and the island of Evia, just north of Athens. There were concerns the figure could double. The estimate of homeless people - 4,000 - could also double.

Lines of people snaked outside banks for a third straight day to receive emergency aid, although officials tightened checks on the fast-track process to foil fraud.

A court in the western Peloponnese town of Amaliada sentenced three men to 3 1/2 years in prison for fraudulently claiming relief funds of $4,100. Sentencing within days of arrest is not unusual in Greece. A fourth woman was released after appealing her conviction.

At least 12 other people had been arrested for alleged relief fraud, and the Finance Ministry issued a week's amnesty for people to return cash relief they might have "accidentally" received.

"After that, all legal penalties will apply in full for all," a ministry statement said.

Government spokesman Thodoris Roussopoulos said 44,000 people received immediate aid worth $196 million over the past three days.

A special help line set up in Athens had taken more than 115,000 calls, mostly from people offering aid, Roussopoulos said.

The fires are dominating political debate before the Sept. 16 elections. Criticism that the government failed to respond quickly enough - and its suggestions the fires resulted from an organized attack - could hurt Karamanlis.