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How is the Tempe rail disaster of 2023 different from the deadly wildfire in Mati in 2018? The first resulted in 57 deaths, the second in 104. The first has dealt a serious blow to the credibility of the current government, while the latter was damaging to the former administration under SYRIZA, which lost the elections nearly a year later. What they mainly have in common, though, is that both exposed shortcomings everyone knows about, but no one wants to deal with aggressively: shortcomings across the board, in every part of the state machine, as well as in all the monitoring and oversight mechanisms. And, when misfortune strikes, a habitual absence of accountability and an endless ping-ponging of blame begins, until we lose sight of the ball.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Skai radio yesterday, Marina Karyda, a survivor of the 2018 wildfire and author of an incredible book\/journal on the tragedy, described that day by saying that: \u201cThe [state] services were oblivious; they were indifferent and uncoordinated; a state mechanism that was absent during the fire, the rescue operation and in the aftermath. And in order to cover up for its inadequacy, it chose to blame the victims.\u201d An astute observation and one, I dare say, that applies to more than just this particular incident.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s response in Mati went back on trial recently and in her summation on the final day of the hearing on Thursday, the prosecutor demanded guilty verdicts for officials, both state and government, who had been acquitted or let off with a slap on the wrist during the first trial. This was seven years after the fact, seven years during which the families of the victims wondered how no one ended up behind bars.<\/p>\n
The course of these two unconscionable tragedies have been running on parallel tracks these past few days. Many believe that they are unrelated; Mati has been conveniently and hastily labeled a natural disaster (as if no other part of the world has experienced similarly destructive wildfires \u2013 and managed to ensure that they weren\u2019t deadly too).<\/p>\n
The masses of Greek society who took to the streets for the Tempe tragedy were silent when it came to Mati. Why? There are many interpretations, but none suffice. Perhaps there is no single answer. Perhaps it was a matter of timing, of the prevalent mood, of the last straw for a society that sees its country unchanged and falling apart (both symbolically and literally), that is being dismissed with online posts and surrendered to social media.<\/p>\n
If Mati had been analyzed properly and the criminal oversights identified, understood and rectified, then perhaps we wouldn\u2019t have had Tempe.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n