Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou on Wednesday announced a “financial support plan” worth €1.3 million to help people who have been left unable to work if their workplaces or means of work were damaged by the wildfire which tore through the Limassol district last week.

The plan was approved by the government at the day’s cabinet meeting, with Panayiotou saying afterwards that his aim is for the first compensation payment to be made before the end of August.

He said the plan will be in operation until October, and that the amount paid out by the government will “correspond to the amount of the salary which each worker received during the previous period”, with data from the social insurance fund set to be used to calculate each worker’s earnings.

The payment will include social insurance contributions payable both by workers and employers, with Panayiotou saying that “no insurance gaps will be created in the current period”.

“The aim is for the money to be paid to those affected without bureaucratic procedures, and for communication with the beneficiaries to confirm their details to begin immediately,” he said.

He added that the payment will allow for a continued “flow of earnings to workers”, while also “maintaining the staffing of business in the area with a view to repairing the damage and reactivating professionals and businesses”.

Of the planned conclusion of the programme in October, he said it may be extended depending on the extent to which the economy in fire-impacted areas is “reactivated”.

In addition, he said, “personalised guidance will be provided to those affected, both workers and employers, according to the information and characteristics which apply in each case, in view of the resumption of their professional activities”.

Later, he said the labour department is “already in daily communication” with both the Limassol district government and the agriculture department, which are at present recording damage to business premises and agriculture and livestock farming, and with the social insurance services.

Asked if his ministry is already aware of the number of people who will benefit from the payment, given the existence of an estimated cost, he said the estimate was made “based on the experience of similar practices which were applied in similar cases in the past”.

“However, because the data in each region is different, the exact number will be determined through the completion of the recording of damages,” he said.

“Our goal is not for this period to last long, since our goal, as today’s decisions indicate, is the quick and effective restoration of the damage and the reactivation of everything which was effected, so that economic activity in the region can resume,” he said.