Ten years ago, at 7.40am on 30 October 2016, a violent earthquake shook central Italy, following those of 24 August and 26 October of the same year. The magnitude is 6.5, the strongest recorded in the country after the 1980 Irpinia earthquake. The epicenter is located near Norcia, but the earthquake involves Lazio, Umbria, Marche and Abruzzo. Around twenty people were injured, but the toll is very heavy in terms of material damage, with entire villages destroyed, historic churches collapsed and tens of thousands of displaced people.
The images of the collapsed Basilica of San Benedetto in Norcia - rebuilt and reopened a year ago - become the symbol of the catastrophe and travel around the world. This new seismic event hits areas already severely damaged by the earthquakes of 24 August and 26 October of the same year. For this reason, no direct victims were recorded: the historic centers of the municipalities affected had in fact already been largely cleared out and declared "red zones".
However, these same villages suffered further and definitive devastation. In Norcia the Basilica of San Benedetto and the church of San Francesco collapsed. The hamlet of Castelluccio di Norcia was almost entirely razed to the ground. In Amatrice, already devastated in August, the earthquake caused the definitive collapse of the upper part of the Civic Tower and the historic church of Sant'Agostino.
The monks said 'we are alive, we will rebuild everything!': the memory of the former mayor Alemanno
It was "an indescribable roar, a deep noise that seemed to come from the bowels of the earth" that accompanied the earthquake that shook Norcia and Valnerina at 7.36 on 30 October 2016. This was remembered by Nicola Alemanno, then mayor of the Umbrian city. "We were at the municipal operations centre. We had slept a few hours, after days of work and continuous shaking. The building was swinging, shaking, it seemed to want to open" he says, speaking to ANSA.
"Computers, desks and false ceilings were falling around us" says Alemanno. "I reached the exit barefoot - he adds -. Then I realized that my father wasn't with me. He couldn't walk independently. I immediately went back in to reach him and help him out. When I looked at my bed, I saw that the pillar behind him had exploded, crumbled. My shape was still on the bed. I understood how close I had been to not leaving that room alive". Outside, the first thought went to the children.
"Then - he still remembers - the news arrived that I would never have wanted to receive: the Basilica of San Benedetto had collapsed. If the Basilica had collapsed, I thought, then it was really over. Yet, in the midst of that devastation, there was a moment that I still carry within me. I saw our Poor Clares arrive and Father Cassian, the prior of the Monastery, completely white with dust. We hugged him. When asked by councilor Pina Perla how we would do it, he replied with a smile that I will never forget: 'Pina, we are alive, we will rebuild everything!'. Those words would become a reference for me in the very long days that awaited us."
In Umbria, 2,625 private construction sites were completed out of 4,054 started
There are 2,625 private reconstruction sites after the 2016 earthquake completed in Umbria with the final state of progress of the works being paid, out of 4,054 started. The contributions granted amount to 1.64 billion euros, with 1.09 billion already paid.
On the public front, 574 interventions have been financed for over 830 million euros and 97.5% have been started, at least with the appointment of the sole person responsible for the procedure or with the achievement of subsequent procedural phases. This is the picture that emerges from the elaboration of the Umbria Special Reconstruction Office, based on the data relating to private reconstruction and, as regards public reconstruction, on the information disseminated by the commissioner structure.
Ten years after the seismic events, the balance sheet shows the extent of the work accomplished and the commitments still open: completing the recovery of homes, restoring full functionality to services, reopening places of culture and sociality and creating the conditions for the complete economic recovery of the affected territories.
"The progress of the reconstruction - declared the president of the Umbria Region Stefania Proietti - is also measured by the number of homes returned to families, by the activities that restart and by the services that become accessible again. I thank the special Umbria reconstruction office, the commissioner structure, the municipalities and all the subjects involved for the work carried out: team work has made it possible to achieve these important results. Now we must complete the interventions and above all accompany the complete rebirth of the communities. Safety, health, school and work are the conditions for guarantee a future for these territories".
