An unprecedented sense of deprivation
Many of us feel an overwhelming sense of deprivation when we suddenly lose our mobile telephone, when our television breaks down, when our electricity supply is interrupted for a few hours, or when the registration plates of our car are stolen. And this is not even in extreme situations, as when someone lives in the middle of nowhere or is sick at home. US scientists recently described the reactions of an entire family who – for the purposes of a special study – were deprived of their television for a few days. They observed that the family members hardly knew what to do with themselves and «were staggering around like headless chickens.» This aside, it is extremely difficult for us to imagine the feelings of those who lost their livestock, their trees and their homes in the recent fires that devastated the Peloponnese and Evia. Earlier this week, state channel Net aired the views of a few residents of Fanari village, in Ileia, whose homes were ravaged by fire. And they described their plight, without complaints and self-pity – in simple, stark terms. «Some 600 bales of hay were burnt, the animals survived, the stables were destroyed. But the female animals are nearly ready to give birth – I don’t know what to do,» one resident said. Another remarked that the 3,000-euro emergency payment being issued by the state is «only enough for cigarettes.» «I paid 4,500 euros just for hay to feed my animals – what about all the other expenses?» «Will you stay in the village?» the reporter asked him. «We will, we will stay here and struggle with hunger, poverty and misery,» he said. All the residents interviewed agreed that, however much compensation they receive, they will have to borrow money as the fires have razed the fruits of several years’ efforts. «We already owe ATEbank and we will be obliged to borrow more as we have years of lost labor to make up for – we’ll be hostages to the banks for a lifetime,» one resident said. It is difficult to believe that such people have a party political agenda or are playing for the cameras. Of course, the loss of human life is the heaviest and most irrevocable but the smaller wounds can also be devastating for those who have always lived off the fruits of the earth. The situation we are now witnessing – the devastation of agricultural land – has not been seen for some 150 years. The future for the burnt regions is unclear. «What will you do with the 3,000 euros?» the reporter asks one of the citizens standing in line outside a bank in Pirgos. «I will spend it on animal fodder,» he said. «We should get ourselves some new trousers too guys!» a kindly faced old man chimed in.
