Greek-Americans Devastated by Fires

Residents of the city's heavily Greek-American enclave of Astoria were anguished yesterday over fires that have raged through Greece and killed 63 people over four days.

"It is devastating," a food importer who was eating lunch at a sidewalk cafe in the low-rise Queens neighborhood just across the East River from Manhattan, Thanasis Stafanidis, said. "From a distance you just pray."

Dozens of fires have broken out in Greece since Friday, destroying forests and villages.

New York is home to 75,055 native-born and foreign-born Greek-Americans, the Department of Planning said.