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Paper short abstract:

What happens after a natural disaster? What are people’s feelings? What will happen to them if something similar happens again? Then fear and uncertainty change the whole structure and function of the community. One example is the case of the flash floods in Western Attica in Greece in 2017.

Paper long abstract:

A natural disaster due to climate change can be a field of research for the humanities, as it can cause significant changes in the society. What happens after a disaster? What are people’s feelings? What will happen to them if something similar happens again? Then fear and uncertainty change the whole structure and function of the community.

Floods are the second most common natural disaster after forest fires and they cause serious effects on the societies that are affected. The Prefecture of Attica in Greece has suffered many disasters from dangerous phenomena in the last twenty years. As an example, the case of the flash floods in Western Attica is used for this research. On the morning of November 15, 2017, the sudden rainfall on Mount Pateras created enormous destruction in the settlements of Mandra and Nea Peramos. The phenomenon was local and the bulk of the rain fell on the mountain. This is the third-largest flood in Attica, based on the number of dead.

The analysis is based on qualitative research, on-site ethnographic research and is theoretically framed with the tools of the Science of Folklore, Anthropology and Ethnography. Narratives from victims who lived through the disaster are used to record their memories, the environmental impact on the areas, as well as their uncertainty about the area’s past and future. Finally, special emphasis will be placed on the analysis of the emotions connected to memory.