ITALY: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi describes quake shelters as "like a weekend of camping"

Record ID: 346235

  • Title: ITALY: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi describes quake shelters as "like a weekend of camping"
  • Date: 9th April 2009
  • Summary: L'AQUILA, ITALY (APRIL 8, 2009) (REUTERS) 'PIAZZA D'ARMI' TENT CAMP WITH WOMAN STANDING OUTSIDE TENT WOMAN HOLDING CONTAINER OF JUICE AID WORKERS WALKING THROUGH CAMP WOMEN WALKING CARRYING FLASKS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LINING UP AT FOOD DISTRIBUTION POINT VARIOUS OF FOOD BEING DISTRIBUTED/ PEOPLE WAITING FOR FOOD CLOSE-UP OF PASTRIES ON PLATE MEN EATING PASTRIES DISPLACED WOMAN, VALERIA LATINO, WRAPPED IN BLANKET WALKING THROUGH CAMP
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVAAC6OO4OTP0R0T373XH2618AXD
  • Story Text: As some Italian earthquake victims queue for food in tented camps, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suggests the experience could be "like a weekend of camping" until the authorities find "more concrete solutions".
    Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi toured the earthquake-devastated town of L'Aquila on Wednesday (April 8) to see rescue and relief efforts and compared life in tents for victims to "a weekend of camping".
    While touring L'Aquila, Berlusconi was asked by a reporter what he thought of those staying in the temporary tent shelters.

    "The people are doing well because they have a lot of assistance, a lot of kindness, receive lot of love from our volunteers who are extraordinary people. They have everything they need, they have medical attention, they have medicines available, they have hot meals and there is shelter at night which, at the end of the day, is a temporary measure. It's a like a weekend of camping and then we need to reach more concrete solutions, which are there, and which are the hotels," Berlusconi said.
    Before Monday's disaster, opponents had called the conservative premier undemocratic for criticising parliament as slow.
    That was set aside by some people on Monday (April 6) as Berlusconi visited L'Aquila and rattled off orders, vowing to repair the ruins and build a new town for young families "in 24 to 28 months".
    The 13th-century mountain city was turned to rubble by the earthquake, which killed more than 250 people across the region and made 17,000 homeless.
    Thousands of survivors of what was Italy's worst earthquake in three decades are now living in tent villages as a series of strong aftershocks hit the mountainous region of Abruzzo, hampering rescue efforts and causing at least one more death.
    In the Piazza D'Armi tent camp in L'Aquila on Wednesday, displaced people collected food from volunteers running the camp.
    Berlusconi has promised 30 million euros ($40.6 million) in immediate aid and "hundreds" of millions more in European Union disaster funds.
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