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Santorini, Greece: town of Oia: The soil is very soft volcanic, so when people would dig into the rock for housing, the roof was naturally vaulted. In the 1950s there was a big earthquake, and people found that the vaulted roofs of the poor survived better than the flat roofs of the rich. The vaulted roofs also provided some camouflage from marauding pirates. When piracy was a problem, the insides of the homes would be whitewashed for hygienic purposes, but the outside was left un-whitewashed, for camouflage purposes. Now, both the insides and outsides of the homes are whitewashed. In WW II, blue paint (for the Greek flag) came into use to show patriotism.