Argostoli - Condensed

Αργοστόλι

Argostoli

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Κεφαλονίτικη Ζωή

Kefalonian Life

Συνεντεύξεις

Earthquake

Πρακτικές

Aftermath

Ζωντανές Αντανακλάσεις

Living Reflections

Θεοδόσης Παπαθεοδωρόπουλος >

Theodosis Papaspiropo

“I remember the warning earthquake on August 9. Some women came out almost half naked. They had fallen asleep, but were scared and went out. I was only 5 and thought this was very strange, I asked my father, my mother, 'what are they up to half naked like that?' They told me they were scared. Others were bedridden and had been carried out. There were 2-3 victims, I remember the planes coming to pick them up.”

Θεοδόσης Παπαθεοδωρόπουλος >

Theodosis Papaspiropo

“After the earthquake we went to Argostoli. My father had the whole family in the truck, he took my sister who was married, she had three children, and we went down to Argostoli to leave for Patras. People from Kefalonia usually migrated to Patras, less so to Athens. We were just about to get on the ship – I remember young children were given delights on the queue, which was torn apart by the earthquake. The boat came. My father had left the mule at the entrance of Argostoli, tied to some olive tree with a rope. We had nothing, no one was waiting for us in Patras. At that point my mother's nephew approached us and told my father "You have given up on your mule, don't you feel sorry for it, it's about to die of thirst." And my father said, "Let's all go back." We took the mule, and we went back to the village.”

Αννέτα Ζαφειρακοπούλου >

Anneta Zafirakopoulou

“On Sunday 9th August we were attending the service at the village church. It was then that the shaking begun. It was 6,5 in the Richter scale. Our priest tried to keep us calm, but we were in a state of panic. During the rest of this day no other earthquake happened but we took our mattresses and slept in the ground floor for safety. On Tuesday 11th August, another earthquake occurred. From our co-villagers we would hear about the great damages in Sami. In the night we took our mattresses and blankets and would sleep in a field opposite our house. Fear was constantly rising. ”

Ασπασία Σταματελάτου >

Aspasia Stamatelatou

“(At the time of the earthquake) I lived in Korianna, we had a house there. A two-storey house, where I lived with my family, all five of us, dad, mum, my brother, my sister. I remember several earthquakes having taken place, but one of them was more powerful and our house cracked at many places. We were afraid to go in and for this reason we moved to a field across our home and we lived in the countryside under the olive trees. We stayed there for the night, we had taken our mattresses, some beds and some pots to cook.”

Αννέτα Ζαφειρακοπούλου >

Anneta Zafirakopoulou

“As we woke up next morning, Wednesday the 12th, I went to our home, opened the door and found my mother crying, as the upper floor had fully collapsed and half our home was in ruins. At 11.30 a.m. the main earthquake took place on 7,2 in the Richter scale. Our church was in ruins and we could see no sight of the mountain above, because all there was was dust and stones. Cries of pain would be heard from all over. The struggle for survival had just began.”

σπασία Σταματελάτου >

Aspasia Stamatelatou

“The day when the big earthquake struck, that made all houses collapse, we had the impression we were losing the ground under our feet. We noticed in panic the trees, the olive trees shake, they banged downwards, then left and the next moment to the right by the force of the earthquake. You were unable to stand upright. Dust was everywhere and suddenly after the earthquake darkness fell all over the place. We saw that our house was demolished by this second big earthquake.”