Fires Evia: The grandmother who shocked all of Greece in MEGA
One year after the devastating fire that burned North Evia and the memories remain fresh, the fiery blaze destroyed in its path vast areas of natural landscape and citizens’ property.
Mrs. Iula from Gouves, the grandmother who became a symbol with her photo holding her heart outside her house while everything was burning in Northern Evia, speaks to MEGA and is shocking.
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“Like tomorrow, the 8th of the month, the day was Sunday. We are all night in Pefki, because the fire was coming and in the morning at 7 we returned home and we see a red thing, as we see our house on the right coming. And we were afraid. And my husband says to me “go away, go away” and as I was leaving like a madman, the flame came and I lost my husband”.
It was the moment when the photographer Constantinos Tsakalides captures the terror and anguish that was painted on her face. Her image traveled around the world and made the cover of the American magazine “TIME”.
“I started shouting for help and I was looking at the sky. Help guys. And the children of the village came, to whom I thank them very much, with the barrels and they managed to prevent our house from catching fire.”
A year later she herself will say that life goes on. The houses will be rebuilt, the forests will be reborn. The most important thing is the man reports with optimism
“Man’s life cannot be restored, while our hands can and are trying, and we will make what we can. These are houses too, but life goes on. Let no one be disappointed and help his country as much as he can.”
Many areas in North Evia are trying to be reborn from their ashes. The picture this summer is nothing like what they experienced on that black Sunday.
“It has a lot of tourism, a lot of tourism, a lot of people come. It is support for Evia. The agencies and various unions should come all over North Evia to plant, to revitalize the greenery.”
Mrs. Iula and her husband Nikos see things now, very differently. They plant tomatoes in their vegetable garden and distribute them to the village and hope that the day will come when from the window of their house, they will see the place green again.