May 29, 2008
Fire’s aftermath: Students to return to Greece to report on media coverage of government
Last August, Taso Lagos was terrified he, his program assistant and his 13 undergraduates would be caught in wildfires raging across central and southern Greece.
But despite some scary moments, they survived unhurt, and this summer, the UW lecturer in communication is taking another group to Greece. They will report on the aftermath of what has been described as Greece’s 9/11. They will also travel with serious plans about what to do if fires threaten.
“Wildfires could happen again. We know that,” said Lagos. “Summer temperatures in Greece have gradually risen over the years, and there have repeatedly been fires.”
This summer’s trip, Aug. 17-Sept. 20, will be the fifth in the Athens program sponsored by the communication department. As part of the 13-credit course, students will study Greek media and politics by interviewing Greek residents and government officials. They will also work with students from the University of Athens, analyzing newspapers’ coverage of the Greek government. At the end, students will present their findings in Athens at the Metamorphosis Conference organized by the program.
In times of disaster, Lagos said, many Greeks expect the government to assume nearly all responsibility. The Greek media typically responds by devoting nearly all its resources to covering the government.
Stacey Engle, a senior in communication and business, was part of the trip last summer, and is going back this one. Interviewing Greeks last summer, she noticed an expectation that the government should deal with the fires more than individuals or private groups.
A native of Greece, Lagos said it’s a paternalistic culture, and last summer, Greeks got angry about what they felt were slow, insufficient responses to the fires, including governmental delay in asking Europe for help.
“It could have made a difference,” Lagos said. On Aug. 30, a day after the fires were brought under control, about 15,000 Greek citizens protested in Syntagna Square, next to the Greek parliament.
By the time the fires were out, 67 people and 60,000 domestic animals had died, and hundreds of thousands of acres of forest and olive trees had been destroyed. News reports said 2.3 percent of Greek land surface burned in five days.
Lagos wants his students to locate and talk with some of the demonstrators as well as other people affected by the fires.” It’s an historic moment for Greece,” he said. “A chance for civil society to emerge.”
To prepare for the possibility of a fire emergency, Lagos requires that his students complete a disaster preparedness workshop in June. It includes emergency evacuation of a site, drills on personal safety and instructions about staying in touch. Additionally, students will be required to bring such things as a flashlight and a cell phone.
“We want to make sure our students are aware that fires could happen — not that they will, but they can, and to be prepared.”
During their 2007 trip, Lagos and his students could see fires about 20 miles from the balcony of their guesthouse in Vitalo, the 450-person village on the island of Euboea, north of Athens, where Lagos grew up.
“It was a very scary Saturday night,” Lagos said. “The full impact of what we were facing hit me. I simply wanted to keep my students safe.” He also thought of Sue Guthrie, the woman he’d married two weeks before. “I worried,” said Lagos, “that she could become a widow.”
Engle recalls a strange calmness among Greeks, a certain waiting for the fires to be put out. She said she hadn’t been apprehensive during the fires, simply interested in watching a disaster unfold in a foreign culture.
The road from Euboea to Athens was closed for two days because of the fires, but opened early Sunday morning, Aug. 26th, so Lagos and his students hopped the first bus out. There, from their seats, they saw the devastation. “My students were absolutely silent, seeing mile after mile of burned roads, cars, homes,” Lagos said. “We had never seen anything like it before.”
