2023-10-02 11:12:24
In her dump Farkadonas of Trikala, trucks – one behind the other – unload tons of furniture, appliances and personal belongings. The possessions of so many families have turned into mountains of muddy and smelly garbage, a shapeless mass from which you can hardly distinguish what was once a wooden door, a dress, a jewelry box.
“Sixty years, a lifetime of work to get these,” she said Eleni Mitrousia showing piled on the sidewalk all the things she threw away from her house. The 76-year-old no longer lives here. She lives temporarily with her sister. She returns to Farkadona only to see her neighborhood and clean up. Coming, she was caught crying: “Is this our place? As if they have sprinkled everything with ash.” As he told us, he has not received it yet compensation to start larger scale work inside the house. Without knowing how long she will be able to be accommodated and when she will be able to live in her home again, the anxiety and insecurity about the next day is magnified, feelings shared by all the residents we met.
Locals abandon the tents they entered to set up the makeshift camp in Grizano. [ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΑΒΡΑΜΙΔΗΣ]
Farkadona still looks like a bombed-out town: empty, silent and covered in a thick layer of mud that sticks everywhere. The passage of bad weather was sweeping. Houses and shops were left under water for days and as a result everything has been destroyed. The residents, scattered in the surrounding villages, come back in their own or their friends’ cars to throw away things and clean up. But no matter how quickly they do, the process of cleaning, repairing and refurnishing their homes from scratch will take, in most cases, months. Under the weight of the rain that has started to fall again in Thessaly, housing emerges as one of the most important problems.
“Is this our place? As if everything has been sprinkled with ash,” says 76-year-old Eleni Mitrousia, who returns to her house to clean it.
Thanks to the quick reflexes and the ties of the local community, some residents have already been transferred and are being temporarily hosted by relatives, while some others have moved into empty houses in neighboring villages owned by Greeks living abroad. Apostolos and Eugenia Pirrotis had neither option. Their house was flooded while their son’s was completely destroyed. “Our brother-in-law hosted us for over a week. But how much to sit on others. You don’t feel well,” said the 65-year-old, who along with his wife decided to temporarily relocate to the white tents set up in the neighboring village. The makeshift camp in Grizano, which could accommodate about 100 people, was convenient for them because it was close to their home in Farkadona and they could easily come and go to clean, but the conditions were not good. A rain in the middle of the week resulted in water entering tents. “It was very difficult. Some left, some slept in their cars. Winter is coming, something must be done immediately”, described Father Vasilios, priest of the village, who took care of transporting meals to the flood victims and experienced the situation first hand. The retired couple were among those who decided to leave. “We’re going to Koutsochero,” they told us when we met them in Grizano loading their last things into the car. Koutsochero is about half an hour from there.
In the coming days, other containers will be cleaned to welcome those who have requested to be accommodated in the structure. [ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΑΒΡΑΜΙΔΗΣ]
The structure in Koutsochero, which once housed 900 refugees, currently houses around 90 flood victims and the state’s mandate, according to the structure’s commander, Apostolos Papaparisis, is to clean and prepare 100 huts to accommodate at least 420 people. Among them Apostolos and Eugenia.
Apostolos and Eugenia Pyrroti settled this week in a container in the structure in Koutsochero, which until the arrival of “Daniel” housed refugees. The retired couple lived in their own house in Farkadona, but it was flooded. [ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΑΒΡΑΜΙΔΗΣ]
The elderly couple was transferred to the X4 hut, a container of 18 square meters with two single beds, a kitchenette and a bathroom. “We bought this so we don’t get muddy,” said the woman, pointing to a colorful mat. “They said they would bring chairs, an oven and a washing machine. I wish”. Opening the cupboards, he noticed the pot in a cardboard box. He was glad to be able to cook something. The municipality, as he said, sends food once a day – lunch and dry food – and even in the afternoon. “Yesterday we were invited by friends and we went somewhere else to eat. They gave us a muddy pond here. What can he do to you?” said her husband, casting his gaze at the cracks in the vertical mirror by the door. This new environment is nothing like the house that they had prepared with such care and love. The wooden furniture was all custom and they had just bought a brand new fridge which they had to throw away. “From one day to the next, you step on it,” said Mr. Pyrrotis, who despite the adversities tries not to lose his optimism. He takes the hand of Eugenia, with whom he has lived together for 45 years. “From the stage, it’s better,” he exclaimed, adding that it happened that the neighbors from the village had settled in the adjacent containers. “We are a neighborhood again”!
“I was like, how do people live here? Now we live”
One of the residents of the former refugee camp in Koutsochero is Dimosthenis Mitrousias, where he settled with his wife in an adjacent container at the beginning of the week. “We are looking to see who is from Farkadona to talk a little. What else can we do? We sit and encourage each other. The 83-year-old man commented with a smile, “Hail is a good thing.” As he said, their son brought them things to cook so they wouldn’t have to wait until late for the municipality’s feeding. He is now waiting for the small tables that were promised to him so that he does not eat on his feet. The couple went for a few days, with the help of their child, to Larissa where they managed to buy some clothes and shoes as well as their medicines. “I saw it happening in other states and I said it will come here too but my own generation will not have time to experience it. But we lived through it,” commented his wife, Angeliki. What worries the two couples is that they have not yet received the compensation from the state. “The inspection came but we still didn’t get any money,” said Eugenia Pirrotis, wondering how they will be able to rebuild their house to be sustainable if they don’t receive financial support. Mr. Mitrousias agreed: “We will spend the winter here. We haven’t received a drachma yet.”
As the days pass, more and more residents declare that they want to move to Koutsochero. In the structure, cleaning crews are on foot. In addition to the disinfection and disinsection, some renovations will be made, such as to the floors, but also changes in case something is broken or very dirty, as the commander of the structure, Apostolos Papaparisis, said in “Kathimerini” on Sunday. “Orders have already been placed for tables, chairs, curtains and wardrobes. Individual televisions will be provided and we will bring in two large screen televisions to be placed in the waiting room.” Responding to criticism of the strict entry and exit to the structure, the commander clarified that from the first moment the people living in the structure can come and go freely, at any time of the day. At the entrance only, he clarified, security asks their name to see if they are on the list. Accordingly, he noted, relatives and friends can visit them in the area. The new families who come try to familiarize themselves with the new space. Staff informs parents about school transport issues and shows them where the gym and computer room are. The markings still have the Arabic letters.
A woman looks around. He often passed by the structure on his way to Larissa. Her eyes were always on the rows of huts. “I was turning my head and saying how people live here. But never say never. The time has come for us to live here. From where you don’t expect it.”
#tents #containers #climate #refugees