Ten years on from the earthquake in central Italia; 4.3 billion has been allocated to reconstruction so far. Meloni is due in Amatrice tomorrow

“Over these three difficult years, the Italian government has made some 4.3 billion available for public reconstruction, as it also had to manage the phasing out of the Superbonus scheme, which had, in some ways, exacerbated the crisis: 5,000 out of 10,000 ongoing building sites were at risk of coming to a standstill. President Meloni will ensure that whatever additional resources are needed are provided.” This was stated by the Commissioner for Reconstruction, Guido Castelli, at a press briefing at the Rimini Meeting in response to questions about whether, tomorrow, at the commemoration of the 2016 earthquake, requests from the affected areas will be put forward to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who will be attending the ceremony in Amatrice ‘for the first time’ since taking office.

“Tomorrow, 24 August, marks the tenth anniversary of the earthquake that struck central Italia, in the regions of Lazio, Umbria and Marche. I pray for the deceased, for their families and for all the communities affected. May faith and solidarity continue to sustain the work of reconstruction.” The Pope said this during the Angelus.

‘Ever since taking office, the Government has worked with determination and tenacity to give a decisive boost to post-earthquake reconstruction, following far too many delays and false starts. This change of pace is evidenced by the figures for grants awarded for private reconstruction and by the marked resumption of public reconstruction, which had been at a standstill for far too long.” So says Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the foreword to the book *Le pietre della rinascita* (*The Stones of Rebirth*), dedicated to the reconstruction following the earthquake that devastated central Italia on the night of 24 August 2016. Today, she asserts: “The earthquake-stricken area is the largest building site in Europe, and on this site it is not just houses, public buildings, churches and factories that are being rebuilt. The lives of an entire community are also being rebuilt – a community overwhelmed by an event that has forever changed the face of villages, towns and regions.”

Central Italy, Meloni continues, ‘also represents one of the treasure troves of Italian and European identity’, but, she warns, ‘the road to reconstruction is not yet over. Much has been done, but just as much remains to be done. And we intend to do it. With determination and tenacity, to respond to that ‘call for a future’ directed at us by those who were born and raised in those places and wish to return to live there’. This is “the deeper meaning” of the strategy the Government is pursuing “through all its departments, under the coordination of Commissioner Castelli and the 2016 Earthquake Commission”. A major team effort with a clear objective: to overcome the challenge of the economic and social rebirth of the Central Apennines’.