In July this year, wildfires in Greece’s Attica region claimed 99 lives as flames swept through the forests towards the coastal towns on the Mediterranean Sea.
Survivors were forced into the neighbouring waters to escape the flames as the tragedy grew into second deadliest fire this century after Australia’s Black Saturday in 2009.
Wildfires ripped through the Attica region in July this year. Source: AAP
Months later, questions remain over whether more could have been done to prevent the disaster in the seaside town of Mati.
On the other side of the globe, Bill Papastergiadis led Melbourne’s Greek diaspora in a fundraising push to support those in their ancestral home.
“For Greek Australians there is almost an umbilical connection to the motherland. Pain felt in Greece, we felt it immediately in Australia,” he says.
Travelling to Mati to assist with the rebuild and pass on donations from Australians, Papastergiadis realised the magnitude of the problems facing the country.
“I'm devastated by what I've seen today. It's way worse than I'd imagined,” he adds.
“I feel like there's so much more I can do, but it's their lives now. They're going to rebuild it in their own way and build their own future.”
Watch ‘From Melbourne To Mati’ tonight at 9:30PM on SBS.
