On September 13, 1986, a devastating earthquake hit the city of Kalamata. The destruction and loss in its immediate aftermath was followed by a long period of recovery and eventually regeneration. For its SNFPHI project, Archeion Taxis, an organization that supports the preservation and promotion of archives, will collaborate with experts in seismology, geology, architecture, and urban planning to create a digital archive that charts Kalamata’s transformation in the wake of the earthquake. The name of the project, EncelaDoc, refers to the documentation of seismic phenomena sometimes referred to in Greek through the metaphor of the mythical giant Enceladus. In addition to gathering in the archive seismological data, oral testimonies, news articles, government directives, and architectural plans, Archeion Taxis will design workshops that introduce local secondary school teachers and university students to the interdisciplinary methods of archival research. A key objective of the project will be to draw attention to the multifaceted impacts of earthquakes, from environmental to political and social.

Image: The 1986 earthquake in Kalamata: The collapse of a 5 story apartment building. Nikos Iliopoulos, 1986. Public Domain