The fault that caused the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria shook the world. For days they have been digging, help is arriving from all over the place, there are dead, missing, homeless people and in many countries that fault has relaunched the issue of security. A priority for millions of people who live in contact with emergencies. As difficult as it is to predict them, you have to live with earthquakes. Japan has had many, but today it has building and anti-seismic plans that are sufficiently adequate for such unpredictable events. Italy is among the most exposed countries in the world with widespread volcanic and seismic zones. Prevention - the basis for saving human lives - unfortunately has never fully entered into the things to be kept under effective control. In Turkey and Syria, buildings collapsed where fragility was inherent in the construction. But it is precisely in the design, in the building systems, in the materials used, that the fault affects and destroys homes and human lives. Italy, second the Institute of geophysics and volcanology, records 20 destructive earthquakes every century. The country is by no means safe, as we know from past and recent tragic events. "In Italy the technical construction standards should change, but this is a matter of a political and economic nature" said Prof. Carlo Doglioni, President of Ingv. "Yet building new houses that can withstand strong events could have a very small cost increase." Already, build so as not to mourn other mourners. An imperative.
Earthquakes do not distinguish between governments
Türkiye and Syria have been hit by an earthquake 1.000 times stronger than that of Amatrice in 2016 and 30 times stronger than that of Irpinia in 1980. In 2022 the Italian seismic network recorded more than 16 thousand medium and minor events: basically 1 every half hour. The South is the most exposed area, although events above magnitude 7 are estimated to be quite remote. Another alarming figure is that between the North, the South and the Islands more than 12 million buildings are at seismic risk. It is at this point that Prof. Doglioni's considerations of a political and economic nature on the earthquake unload on the governments of the last twenty years. In 1982 Joseph Zamberletti after the Irpinia earthquake he was the first Minister of National Civil Protection. We were direct witnesses of that tragedy and of the need to study and protect the territory with plans and investments. Today it is not known how up to date and valid the Seismic Prevention Planto national. In 2012, a plan for this type of emergency was drawn up by the Network of the technical professions and presented to the institutions. It has been updated several times, but according to the construction technicians themselves, it has not seen significant and effective attention from the institutions. In 2014 the Renzi government approved with a decree the «Casa Italia» and «Italia Sicura» missions. In 2018 the first Conte government dismantled them claiming that they cost too much. Yet until then over 2 billion had been spent on about 1800 works.
Renzi's Italy Safe is reborn with Meloni premier?
The "holiday" on how to deal with emergencies dragged on until December 2022 with a trail of controversy over the ruinous decision to Joseph Conte. In December 2022, the Senate approved an agenda which commits the majority to present a proposal for the reconstitution of the mission unit "Casa Italia" and "Italia Sicura". Done? No and Matteo Renzi urges Giorgia Meloni: «on 14 February next the terms of that agenda expire. We hope that the terrible images from Turkey will remind the government how important it is to invest in prevention, on the security of our territory» he said two days ago. In this complicated context that does not reassure any Italian, the bonus policy construction and seismic. Another flop. According to the Revenue Agency, in fact, i seismic bonuses recorded amounts equal to a tenth of those of the Superbonus 110%: around 6 billion. Complicated procedures, limited times for interventions and material costs have held back citizens' requests. We need to streamline and rethink the system, builders, architects and geologists say together. The seismic bonus it has been extended to 2024, but before the commitment of individual citizens, to secure their homes, it is the State that must deal with the prevention of all types of disasters, even more so when there are Ministries in the government with specific delegation. And if the structures created by the Renzi government are not going well or the Prevention Plan needs to be updated, the images of Turkey and Syria remind us that the time has come to get serious. In the interest of a country that does not feel safe at home. Again we are late.
