ROME, Italy (Reuters) — Italy will rebuild communities devastated by this week’s earthquake and will relaunch efforts to protect the country’s buildings and infrastructure from natural disasters, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Thursday (August 25).
At least 250 people died after an earthquake struck the mountainous heart of Italy in the early hours of Wednesday (August 24), devastating a string of towns, villages and hamlets.
“In these hours, we have two necessities, on one hand we need to think about reconstruction. Despite living in a time of tears and of pride, we cannot forget that we have a moral commitment towards the men and women of these places,” Renzi told reporters at the end of a cabinet meeting called to discuss the government’s response to the emergency.
“Reconstruction, above all when it comes to communities, and we have not lost the sense of community, as is clear from the comments of the survivors is the priority of our government and I believe, to be more correct, it is the priority of our country. We will probably never be able to completely dry our tears, those who have lost their loved ones certainly will not, but when the memory of this incident will start to fade, we must be in the front row to underline that the reconstruction of those towns is the priority for Italy, not for Amatrice but for Italy,” he said, adding that it was also vital to boost anti-seismic measures in one of the most earthquake-prone nations in the world.
“Just as the pain we feel today is strong, so, too, is the pride that belongs to a nation that is able to react in this way to a state of emergency. But that is not enough and we must think beyond the state of emergency, and the need for a bigger plan, and we will do that together,” Renzi said, adding that the mentality in Italy needed to change and that the country needed a new model of development, but also of prevention.
