14 Apr 2009 No Comments
Earthquake in L’Aquila
This is just a short post to answer all the messages I received asking whether my family and friends where involved by the earthquake in L’Aquila. Thanks everyone for the interest!
My family lives in Tortoreto, which is a village on the Adriatic coast, about 100km far from the epicentre of the earthquake. The distance was enough to avoid yet another natural disaster in my home village — the very same area was already seriously damaged by a flooding in October 2007. Despite the distance, my parents woke up in the middle of the night because of the vibrations, and spent the rest of the night in their Caravan.
Serious damages involved unfortunately many of my friends who live in L’Aquila. Most of them are now without a roof: the lucky ones are sleeping at some relatives or in the hotels, the unlucky ones are sleeping in tents… At least all of them seem to be in good health and relatively positive about the future.
What makes me really sad is to see the city where I have been studying for six years transformed in a sort of city of ghosts. I am sincerely sorry for all the victims of the earthquake. Victims not of the power of nature, but of the rotten public system which allows private and public buildings to be constructed without obeying to the essential safety laws. The public hospital of L’Aquila, inaugurated nine year ago, was seriously damaged… The student hostel collapsed… And despite this tragedy, Berlusconi was even able to make one of his “brilliant jokes”, saying that the victims should view this experience as a camping weekend. All this is just disgusting.