The neighbours of Santa Olga

The film invites to reflect on post-disaster recovery and reconstruction. Survivors of the 2017 Santa Olga firestorm lost everything. Seven years later, elder survivors share their perspectives on what have recovery and reconstruction meant to them, highlighting the power of community and social fabric to sustain recovery and “bouncing forwards”.

By emphasising community, the film invites to reflect about disaster recovery policies centred on objective, quantitative indicators that not always prioritise emotional wellbeing and spaces for communal life. Through a focus on elder citizens, blanket approaches are questioned, showing the need for policies and processes tailored to different socio-demographic groups and their lifecycle stages.

The film provides means for survivors to share their stories, hoping their experience serves as example and lesson to improve disaster preparedness and risk reduction.