After 48 hours of continuous rain the tent camps have been named “mud hell”. The army was called in to get rid of the water which has flooded the camps and soaked the tents. The difficult conditions in the larger camps remain. Theft has been reported once again in the camp at Piazza d’Armi, where volunteers’ clothes and mobile telephones hve been stolen. Those who can find and afford accommodation elsewhere are leaving the camps. Meanwhile along the coast people are taking advantage of being hosted in hotels when they have second homes to go to. It seems they will be asked to pay the bill for the time they have spent in the pleasant seaside hotels.

The difficulty of entering or even crossing from east to west L’Aquila has became an ordeal. It can take up to an hour and a half due to the intense traffic and the movements for the G8 event. Prices have soared; the price of a prosciutto sandwich has gone up from €2 to €4, the minimum price for a piece of pizza is €3. Fruit and vegetables are avoided because of the high prices.

No coffee or Coca Cola: The population has passed from anxiety to anger. The civil protection agency has ordered that in no way must coffee or Coca Cola be distributed in the tent camps in the hope that this will help calm the nerves of the tent population!

We are not stupid: The state of mind of the evacuees can be summed up by one of the posters a demonstrator was holding which read: “Forte e gentile si, fessi no” . “Strong but polite”, has always been used as an expression to describe the Abruzzesi; now they have added “but not stupid”. Aldo Scimia from Onna who lost his mother in the earthquake has made a proposal: “As Berlusconi says the wooden houses will start arriving at the end of September, this means we shall have to pass the summer under these bright blue tents: I invite him to pass a day or better a night with us. After 10 minutes he will realize what it means living under these conditions.”

Lack of credibility: Promised funds have not arrived but above all they want to know from where they will come. The government had mentioned that they would introduce a lottery and scratch cards to raise money. The local councillors have protested that restoration of a town can not be financed in this way. Probably all this will be clearer after the European elections.

Work not given to an Abruzzese company: the latest blow is that a contract worth €28 million did not go to an Abruzzese company but has been awarded to a company from the north instead. There are about 20 Abruzzesi companies out of a total of 56 bidding to build 12,000 new houses. It remains to be seen if local companies will be awarded this work

Demonstrations: In the last week of April, an estimated 1,000 residents of the historical centre of L’Aquila confronted the army surrounding the centre, which has been declared off limits.

They angrily demanded to be allowed to walk through the ruins and rubble to view what was left of their homes. They were finally allowed in. What they saw of their damaged or collapsed buildings was breathtaking. The stink from the deep freezers and fridges of rotten meat was still in the air. From under the rubble a television was transmitting the late morning programme. Somehow it was still attached to a supply of electricity.

The mayors: The afternoon of 3 June there was another demonstration by the mayors and provincial councillors of the areas classified as eligible for aid by the civil protection agency. They were flanked by more than a thousand evacuees from the tent camps and those in hotels along the coast. Only three mayors, all from centre-right political administrations in Poggio Picenze, Villa Sant’Angelo and Ovindoli, did not participate. Their reason was that they believe in what Berlusconi has promised and that it is not the moment to organise demonstations. The president of the province of L’Aquila, Stefania Pezzopane, has said that the demonstrations are not politicallty motivated but are aimed at improving the government’s reconstruction decree which has already been improved by the senate but is under debate in the chamber of deputies until 15 June. To date no funds have been allocated to repair schools which must reopen again in September.

The main points are:

More funds for the devastated areas. Government aid should include those who have a home in the devastated area but who are currently excluded because they do not have local residency. These houses of non-residents are often the backbone of the smaller towns. More funds for the restoration of the cultural heritage and the historic centres. Less power for the central government and the civil protection agency and more for the local administrators. Help with the cash flow for towns, provinces and companies that have not been able to cash in their funds during this period.

If post earthquake action and finance for L’Aquila is not available quickly, the consequences for L’Aquila will be terrible.

Fabrizio G. Scalabrino

5 June 2009