Eye Of The Fire
Who is to blame for the 2018 Attica wildfires?
During an unusually mild and wet summer, how did a wildfire manage to claim the lives of 99 people in the Greek seaside haven of Mati? Is climate change or years of austerity to blame?
"I don't know who to be angry with - angry with God? Angry with people? Angry with myself?" says firefighter Andreas Dimitriou. While he fought to protect others, his wife and baby son were killed by the inferno at home. 100km/h winds surrounded gridlocked roads of day-trippers and residents as firemen battled blazes in elderly vehicles and self-bought uniforms. A catalogue of deadly failures ensued, from traffic diversions leading people into harm's way, to illegal developments trapping others as they fled to the sea. Now Greece is ringing with recriminations after eight years of austerity. "I cannot think of a single part that went right in this disaster", says crisis management expert Costas Synolakis.
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