It is clear from the tone of his voice that Franco Mosconi, a brilliant industrial economist at the University of Parma where he holds the Jean Monnet Chair, has recently relived with great emotion the drama of Emilia four years ago, when the earthquake struck on the night of May 20, 2012 in his house in Carpi which was shattered. "When I saw the images of the new earthquake in Amatrice and in central Italy - he says - I felt great sadness, exacerbated by the fact that this time many - too many - children lost their lives". As he explains in this interview with FIRSTonline, Mosconi is convinced however that the earthquake can be reborn and that the Emilia one, where life and the economy restarted after the earthquake, may not be an easily exportable model but it is certainly a good example. A on two conditions: that from the first moment of reconstruction it is clear "who does what" and that the institutions and civil society play their part to the end. Here are his reflections.
Professor Mosconi, what did it feel like when you heard of the earthquake in central Italy on Wednesday?
“A great sadness because the gravity of this earthquake immediately appeared before our eyes; a sadness exacerbated by the fact that this time many – too many – children have lost their lives”.
You experienced the earthquake firsthand four years ago in Emilia: can you tell us how it went?
“There were two deadly tremors about ten days apart from each other. The first, in the night between Saturday and Sunday and it was May 20, 2012; the second around 9, followed by another at 13 pm on Tuesday 29 May. In both there were deaths, injuries and material damage to churches, schools, houses and factories: but the second, which arrived when all the children and young people - from nursery schools to high schools - were in class with their teachers, was the one that has most affected the daily life of all of us, also from a psychological point of view. Hundreds, thousands of parents spent an afternoon of other times: outdoors, in city parks and gardens with their children, both to let the fear go away a little, and to (re)organize ourselves in view of a period that looked very difficult".
What damage did the earthquake cause in Carpi and, in general, in the Modena area?
“In Carpi the damage was mainly in the historic centre, where my family lives: the whole centre, starting from the large Piazza Martiri, was delimited by the Civil Protection as a "red zone". But Carpi was not the city most affected: Mirandola, San Felice sul Panaro, Finale Emilia, Cavezzo (where 75% of the buildings collapsed in the rubble) paid a much greater toll both in terms of human lives and material damage ”.
Is the reconstruction in Carpi and in the other earthquake-hit areas of Emilia finished? How much time and how many resources did it take and did the economy restart?
“The reconstruction is, in general, at a good stage but we need to distinguish between cities precisely depending on the different post-earthquake conditions. You ask me first of all about Carpi: the renovation works of the Cathedral are finished and this gives the sense of a full return to normality. On the other hand, almost all the other churches – an artistic heritage of great value – are still unusable. If we then move a few tens of kilometers to Mirandola, the wounds of 2012 in the historic center are still visible there. But this type of reconstruction, as we know, takes time and a lot of resources. In Emilia, grants have been granted for homes and businesses of one billion and 770 million and 1,9 billion for the sectors of industry, commerce and agriculture, while for the reconstruction and repair of public buildings and cultural assets calculated damages amounted to one billion and 705 million euros.
Finally, you ask me about the economy: yes it has restarted. The two towns we are mainly talking about are, not just today, home to two of the most important Italian industrial districts: Carpi for textile-clothing, Mirandola for biomedical. Both continue to achieve good performances (excellent in the case of Mirandola) in a national and international context which, as you tell us every day in your online newspaper, is anything but easy”.
Paradoxically, could the earthquake, net of the immeasurable human losses, be an opportunity to relaunch the economy?
“Investments for prevention, in a country with a high seismic risk like ours, would have been one of the most forward-looking public policies in the past decades: an intelligent neo-Keynesian policy, if you like (but there are still some who want to reduce it to a of the past?). Now the categorical imperative is represented by reconstruction investments to give back a home to those who no longer have one: in Amatrice and in the other hard-hit towns between Lazio, Umbria, Abruzzo and the Marches this week, as well as in all other places in the country where natural disasters (earthquakes and floods) have struck in recent years (decades)".
What were the driving forces behind the post-earthquake recovery in Emilia?
“I would like to mention at least two. A very clear "chain of command", with the president of the regional council in charge of reconstruction. And an extraordinary mobilization of civil society, where by this I mean not only the noble commitment of voluntary and non-profit organizations but also the efforts of entrepreneurs. Visiting Mirandola is believing: not only has the district, after the earthquake, not been lost but today it is stronger than ever, with new foreign capital that has arrived and new infrastructures for the development of knowledge (the Technopole, for example) that I have arisen”.
Is the Emilian one an exportable model also for the earthquake in Central Italy?
“Here in Emilia the earthquake hit the plains and one of the areas with the greatest industrial-manufacturing vocation in Italy and Europe; there in the mountains and in areas with authentic jewels of the Renaissance and the Middle Ages. Therefore, it is very difficult to make comparisons and comparisons. But clearly establishing "who does what" remains fundamental, just as a robust injection of public funds cannot be ignored, even taking into account the lower strength - compared to Emilia - of private entrepreneurship in those areas. From this point of view, the first 50 million euros allocated by last Thursday's Council of Ministers must really be just a start. However, it is equally true that the rules on how to spend them and how to report them must be very strict”.
Doesn't it seem paradoxical to you that expenses and investments for the earthquake are outside the constitutional budgetary obligations and the Fiscal Compact while this is not the case for anti-seismic prevention expenses?
“I totally agree, and let's go back to what I was saying earlier about Keynes, here and now”.
Professor, why are Italians always very good in emergencies and not equally good in managing the economy and everyday public life?
“Good question, which refers to the famous “Italian character”: creative, flexible and reactive. All right, please. But a little more method and rigor wouldn't hurt. The extraordinary result achieved by Italy between the end of the 50s and the beginning of the 60s with the construction of the Autostrada del Sole was recalled in recent days: method and there was no lack of rigor there. It is something we have to recreate, starting from the youngest to whom our hopes are entrusted”.
