Mati Observatory

The great destruction caused by the fire in Eastern Attica on July 23, 2018 with over 100 dead and massive material damage, marked society. After all, it is the deadliest fire recorded in the history of the modern Greek state. The restoration of the damage and of the local society will take time and requires the mobilization of state mechanisms and the active involvement of the community. The systematic monitoring of the developments will help the transparency of the processes and the quick identification and resolution of the problems that inevitably arise. The Observatory, through the interventions it launches, will prevent the everyday “big news” from marginalizing the events in Mati.

In practice, the Mati Observatory is a long-term study that will record the reconstruction calendar of the affected area. The content produced will be available, as it is produced, to the public and the Media for re-publication. At the same time, regular organized actions involving the residents will help to highlight as much as possible the issues concerning the local community.

With reportage, interviews and features, the Observatory will follow step-by-step the community in Neos Voutzas, Mati and the whole region. From the demolition of the illegal construction, the compensations, the licensing and construction of new houses, the return of the residents, the management and utilization of the funds, the life of the children at school, the reforestation and up to small incidents of everyday life.

The personal testimonies of the residents of the area and the interaction and involvement of the journalists with the community will have a dominant role, in an effort to implement community journalism ideas, activating the local community on the issues that concern them and facilitating communication with the institutions.

The material produced, text as well as audiovisual material, were published on the dedicated website for the project (most content produced can be found also on inside story). For editorial and technical reasons inside story has taken the responsibility for publication. Material - unless otherwise noted - is licensed under a Creative Commons license to ensure maximum exposure.

The investigation is supervised by Tasos Telloglou, a journalist who systematically dealt with the 2018 fire, while the team also includes more journalists, photographers, video producers, etc.