The editors of Time magazine chose a heartbreaking photo of a desperate elderly woman in the background of her house in Evia. Photo taken by photographer Konstantinos Tsakalidis for SOOC on August 8, 2021.
On its Instagram account, Time notes: New TIME cover: the best photos of 2021. On the Greek island of Evia, a woman reacts to a wildfire caused by the country’s worst heatwave in three decades, approaching her home on August 8. See our full unrated 2021 Top 100 Photos at the link in our bio. Photo of Konstantinos Tsakalidis (@tsakalidis_k) —Bloomberg / @ gettyimages
The picture shows 81-year-old Panayota near her home in the village of Gouves. An old woman in black in despair held on to her chest with one hand, and a bag with simple belongings in the other. The flames are simply breathtaking and permeate the landscape with all shades of orange and red.
The photograph of Tsakalidis was published by international media around the world and became a symbol of the despair that wildfires leave behind.
In an interview after the fires, Panayota said she screamed for help when she didn’t see her husband.
TIME also selected another photo of the Evia bushfires for the top 100 of the year.
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