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HOUSING and CULTURAL PRIORITIES: THE ASIA MINOR GREEK REFUGEES OF 1922 *
Author(s) -
Hirschon R.,
Thakurdesai S.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.1978.tb00103.x
Subject(s) - refugee , minor (academic) , human factors and ergonomics , suicide prevention , injury prevention , poison control , occupational safety and health , medical emergency , political science , medicine , law
In disaster situations, housing usually features as one of the essentials of emergency provisions. The research on which this article is based indicates that a knowledge of cultural values is of primary importance if the provision of shelter is to be effective in fulfilling the needs of a specific group of people. The case of the Asia Minor refugees in Greece is particularly instructive, as it has a time depth of 50 years; many lessons having direct bearing upon disaster relief may be learned from a closer examination than is possible here. Some points can be illustrated, however, by focusing on the district of Germanika, where uniform prefabricated housing, intended as temporary shelter, is still inhabited some 50 years - and three generations later. Among the modifications which have been made to the housing, clear patterns emerge which demonstrate graphically, the priorities of the inhabitants themselves. Germanika, socalled because the houses were of German origin, is part of the large residential locality of Nea Kokkinia, near Piraeus. This originated as a housing settlement for Greek refugees from Asia Minor in 1922, and I0 years after its foundingit had40,000 residents. Today there are about 86,000 persons as the area has expanded to absorb families from the countryside. In the oldest section, however, people of refugee origin still comprise an overwhelming majority of the population. The fact that the refugees still have a sense of their separate identity is noteworthy. It is partly due to the mag nitude of the original refugee problem, partly for socioeconomic and historical reasons particular to this group of people and partly due to failures of policy. Following the disastrous campaign of the Greek Army in Asia Minor, a flood of destitute persons arrived in Greece in the last months of 1922, followed gradually by thousands of families who left their homes under the terms of the 1923 Exchange of Populations between Greece and Turkey. refugees probably numbered about 1.4 - 1 .5 million persons, representing a quarter of the total Greek population at that time. Many of them were town dwellers and Greece already The