Greece's nuclear disaster

You can not really see it, touch it, hear it, let alone smell it. Yet, it is there and it is destructive beyond imagination.

Since its first appearance, the government has issued a series of safety protection measures. Two years later, citizens have grown sick of them, with some going as far as defying them.

Numerous families have made a conscious decision to continue inhabiting the polluted area. Many others have fled the scene, never to return again.

Nevertheless, all of them seem to be doomed having to live with the haunting dilemma “Have I made the right decision or not?”. Experts say that the impact of the disaster is to be fully understood in twenty to thirty years time.

Yet, one thing is definite. Suicidal and depression rates in the area have increased dramatically in the last couple of years.  

“This is not the life I hoped for”, “Why did this happen to me?” …

Last week I had the chance to watch the documentary “Welcome to Fukushima”  in the European Parliament on the second anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The Belgian film maker, Alain de Halleux traveled to Japan to capture the stories of families from polluted Minamisoma who are facing the decision to stay or leave.

Interestingly enough, the suffering of the Japanese people bares a striking resemblance to the suffering of the crisis ridden Greeks.

All symptoms, agonies and reactions pictured on the film could have well belonged to a documentary shedding light on the daily lives of Greeks in crisis.

Financial crisis or nuclear disaster, people's suffering is the same wherever you go.