MARTA MALASPINA

In 2015, over three hundred thousand people landed on the island of Lesvos, Greece, searching for refuge and a better future in Europe. UNHCR and NGOs are present in mass, but the true strength of the reception are the hundreds of volunteers present on the island.

The landings here in Skala Skammias, on the island of Lesbos, are continuous, unstoppable. Days of continuous rain and rough seas are less afraid of the bombs and the poverty that these people leave behind.

Between October and November, there was a record of landings, with peaks between five and ten thousand arrivals per day. The island is a transitional area and not the final destination for most of the persons arriving. Many first reception hotspots have been set up in which future asylum seekers can register and receive a thirty-day permit to legally travel to Greece and other European countries to apply for asylum.

The larger refugees camps, Moria and Kara Tepe, located in the south of the island near the capital Mytilini, risk collapse every day. Scenes of revolt have been seen in recent days, especially in Moria, where bad weather has made the situation even more explosive. Thousands of people remained for long hours under the pouring rain awaiting registration, the relentless influx of new arrivals generated strong tension and the Greek police in some moments decided to use hydrants and tear gas to calm the crowd.

UNHCR and the NGOs are trying very hard to manage the ongoing emergency. The impotence of the Greek authorities, already under stress by the economic crisis, in facing this humanitarian crisis is tangible, the quantity of structures means and personnel is extremely limited. Continuous changes in procedure make the registration system more and more complicated. There is a lot of work to do and humanitarian workers work tirelessly to ensure adequate reception for those seeking refuge.

The great strength of Lesbos, however, bears the names of the hundreds of volunteers who continue to come from all over the world every day. Young and old who, in full knowledge of the situation in which Lesvos is pouring, decide to board the first plane and reach the island, with the only common goal: to welcome.

The Mediterranean is the only way forward. Our coasts the only safe harbors that welcome. It doesn't matter whether they are called Lesvos, Samos or Lampedusa, when you touch the ground, wherever you land, the only word that counts is salvation.

And as active witnesses of all this, one question echoes in the head. 
It's a loud cry: "So whose fault is it here? Whose responsibility, is it? "

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This reportage has been published by Dinamopress, November 22, 2015
See the reportage here.