Villagers lose all in Greek fires

The ancient site of Olympia was spared by Greece’s forest fires, but it was of little consolation to nearby villagers. Some have seen their entire livelihoods reduced to ash.

A charred field remains where a café once stood in Kochina. Its owner Cristiana says she was unable to save anything. She now has no work, no money and is wearing her last remaining clothes. “It happened just like that, from one day to the next” she explained.

Her car escaped the flames and now serves as her bedroom. Her property and belongings, like many others on the Peloponnese peninsula, were uninsured. Her son Vassili sees the fires as a battle of nature: For me it’s war. Another type of war, without guns, a different war,” he says.

The fires in the shadow of the Temple of Zeus were not divine retribution. A much more mortal explanation is being offered: that this is the work of arsonists.

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