The cemetery of the Municipality of Thessaloniki and surrounds is overcrowded with a makeshift area having been created. Around 300 new graves are marked with rudimentary white crosses, wreathes, a few flowers and small marble signings to show the resting place of many loved ones.
The scene, reminiscent of wartime, has been caused due to dozens of COVID-19 deaths in Northern Greece, the place in Greece struck hardest by the pandemic.
For the victims of the pandemic the graves are as simple as possible, just a marble cross, no marble tombstone.
Unable to cater to the demand for graves, the cemetery – like many in Athens – requires bodies to often be kept in the ground for three years before families pay for exhumation of their loved ones. Their bones are then taken to a building known as an ossuary. There, families pay a type of lease for bones to be kept until a better place is found or, often, great grandchildren ‘let go’ of the memory and bones are pitted together in a communal resting place.
COVID-19 has worsened the situation and the municipality has had to seek new places for COVID-19 victims. Dozens of new graves have been dug into the ground, further away from the rest of the cemetery.
READ MORE: Expats in Greece, a dystopian setting during COVID-19 Lockdown 2.0
Images like this can also be seen at the regions of Thermi and Evosmo.
The situation doesn’t seem to be abating as 100 more deaths were announced in Greece overnight on Thursday with the tally now at 2,706.
