43 years ago one of the worst disasters to hit Italy occurred, the Irpinia earthquake. It was 19pm Sunday 23 November 1980 when a earthquake of magnitude 6,9 on the Richter scale shook central Campania and central-northern Basilicata with the epicenter between the municipalities of Teora, Castelnuovo di Conza, and Conza della Campania.
Almost 3 thousand victims
La shock lasted 90 seconds, with a hypocenter about 10 km deep, and affected an area of 17 thousand square kilometers. The result was devastating.
According to the most reliable estimates i deaths were 2,914 and 8,848 injured. There were 280 thousand displaced people. In Naples, in the Poggioreale district, a building collapsed in via Stadera, perhaps due to construction defects, causing the death of 52 people.
The Irpinia earthquake involved a total of one population of 6 million of people.
The most affected areas
Le most affected areas they were the provinces of Avellino, Benevento and part of the provinces of Potenza and Salerno. The cities of Conza, Balvano, Lioni and other locations suffered extensive damage.
Of the 679 municipalities in the eight areas affected by the earthquake (Avellino, Benevento, Caserta, Matera, Naples, Potenza, Salerno and Foggia), 74%, equal to 506 municipalities, reported damage according to the Office of the Extraordinary Commissioner.
“Suddenly the brutal truth re-establishes the relationship between me and reality. Those broken wasp nests are houses, dwellings, or rather they were" I comment Alberto Moravia in describing the devastating effects of the earthquake in Irpinia.
La The severity of the earthquake was not immediately understood. Initially the first news broadcasts only reported an "earthquake in Campania", since the complete interruption of telecommunications prevented the alarm from being spread promptly. Only later, during the night, yes he began to understand the vastness of the tragedy. Only on the morning of November 24th, via a helicopter, was the true dimension of the disaster realized.
The delay in rescue
The effects of the shock were aggravated by delay in rescue caused by several factors. Because of collapse of roads and bridges it was difficult to access the inland areas, already very isolated in themselves. Furthermore, it precarious state of infrastructure, in particular those for electricity and radio transmissions, hindered long-distance communications.
Another significant factor was theabsence of a civil protection organization that could promptly coordinate rescue operations which was created only 12 years later. A gap highlighted for the first time by the President of the Republic Sandro Pertini: “There wasn't the immediate relief that should have been there – said Pertini two days after the earthquake – moans and cries of desperation from those buried alive were still rising from the rubble”.
Estimation of damages
La initial damage estimate caused by the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, formulated in 1981, was approximately 8 thousand billion lire. Over time, this figure has increased, exceeding 60 thousand billion lire in 2000 and reaching 32 billion euros in 2008. According to Sergio Rizzo, with the updating of the data, the current estimate stands at approximately 66 billion EUR.
Part of these funds unfortunately over the years it was lost due to corruption at both local and national levels, as well as by organized crime.
In Italy, aexcise duty of 75 lire (equivalent to 4 euro cents) on each liter of fuel purchased to finance the reconstruction of the territories affected by the earthquake.