Earthquake: Castles in Arquata, reconstruction is prevention or it is not needed
In Arquata del Tronto the point on the ten years since the earthquake: "We don't die from earthquakes, we die from poorly made houses"
Quick Look
The extraordinary commissioner Guido Castelli, ten years after the earthquake, reiterates in Arquata del Tronto that reconstruction must be synonymous with seismic prevention, focusing on safe buildings and the return of families to their communities.
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Why It Matters
The territory was hit by seismic events ten years ago. Commissioner Castelli manages the physical and social reconstruction plan of the areas involved.
"Every reconstruction is either prevention or it is useless." This is the principle indicated by the extraordinary commissioner for reconstruction Guido Castelli in Arquata del Tronto (Ascoli Piceno), in the institutional discussion promoted by the four regional Anci involved ten years after the earthquake.
A reconstruction which, according to Castelli, must aim not only at restoring buildings and infrastructures, but at making the territories safer and capable of facing future risks: "not where it was and as it was, because earthquakes cannot be experienced as a fatality. We don't die from earthquakes, we die from poorly made houses, from unrepaired houses, from inadequate houses, from unimproved houses". Hence the need to link every intervention to risk prevention, through seismic microzonation checks, studies on active and capable faults and updating of hydraulic risk.
"You cannot rebuild if it is not safe to live in a place", underlined Castelli, also recalling the situations in which it was necessary to evaluate the relocation of buildings. "We must prepare for the shock that will come", improving and adapting public buildings and especially schools, with the aim that, when a new earthquake arrives, "there is no interruption of the functions of a city or a village and obviously there are no victims".
Reconstruction must also return people to communities. "In recent years we have brought home more than 5,000 families, there are still 8,000 outside." For this reason, the priority remains to focus on the most affected centres, accompanying physical reconstruction with economic and social relaunch. Castelli also underlined the importance of guaranteeing administrative continuity and certainty of resources.
"We must make the most of every euro we put into this reconstruction" and maintain the momentum achieved, because "in some cases it is already daylight, in other cases we still have to work". The challenge, he concluded, is to "walk together", with institutions and territories committed to a single strategy.
Open Questions
- What are the certain times for the return of the remaining 8,000 families?
