In Emilia the earth continues to shake. They have been approx 70 earthquakes recorded during the night in the affected area in ten days from two violent earthquakes of magnitude 5.9 and 5.8. In all they caused a total of 23 dead and about 14.000 displaced.
SHOCKS – According to the findings of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (Ingv), the shocks recorded from midnight to 5:15 today the strongest was at 3:54 am, with a magnitude of 3.4 and epicenter near the Modena municipalities of Camposanto, Cavezzo, Medolla, Mirandola and San Felice sul Panaro and the Mantua municipality of San Giovanni del Dosso.
RESCUE - Despite the constant shocks, it does not stop the rescue car. The last missing person in the collapse of the Haematronic company in Medolla, one of the municipalities most affected by yesterday's earthquake, was found dead in Medolla. The dead thus rise to 17, with 350 wounded and 8 displaced.
GOVERNMENT - The Council of Ministers, meeting in the morning, approved the emergency plan by decree, providing for the derogation of the Stability Pact, within a limit defined for the Municipalities, of reconstruction expenses, and extending the state of emergency to the Provinces of Reggio Emilia and Rovigo. The President of the Emilia-Romagna Region is entrusted with the duties of Reconstruction Commissioner. To finance the emergency, the Council of Ministers has given the go-ahead to increase excise duties on fuel by two cents and has established the postponement of tax payments and contributions to September. The damage to the agri-food district is currently estimated at over 500 million. Meanwhile the Confindustria controversy explodes, the president Squinzi defends the entrepreneurs: "The controversy over the collapse of the warehouses is artificial".
NAPOLITAN – The President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano also intervened on the matter, who slammed the institutions responsible for prevention: "We have the problem of changing behaviors also as public policies which have been seriously inadequate in terms of prevention". The Head of State also confirmed the discussed June 2nd military parade (for which political exponents and public opinion had asked for the annulment, as happened in 1976 on the occasion of the Gemona del Friuli earthquake), specifying however that "the celebrations will be sober".
