How can you rebuild everything from scratch?

A faded photo, one of the many that Storm Daniel destroyed, in the house of the Panagiotopoulos family in Vlochos. 'We no longer have pictures of the children hanging. They washed out because of the water. We can't put them back there.' [Alexandros Avramidis]

There is a peculiar calm in Koskinas. The streets are empty and the summer silence is interrupted only by the sounds of construction work. A year after the deadly storm which destroyed around 70 houses in the Thessalian village and caused great damage to public infrastructure, residents are slowly and with great difficulty trying to return and rebuild their lives from scratch.

"There is nothing worse than not having a home. My husband and I have cried a lot. We had this house for half a century, I made everything. And just when we were starting to enjoy it, we lost it," says 70-year-old Anna Hatzi. She and her husband Thomas lost everything last September: Their house collapsed and their animals - lambs and chickens - all drowned. Only they and their dog managed to escape. At first they stayed with their son in Athens and then in a house that a friend made available in Agios...

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