Ischia and beyond, because in Italy the first aid is no longer enough
If no one intervenes before the expected emergency, as in Ischia, the institutions are left with nothing but to provide assistance after the catastrophe has occurred. Federico Guiglia's notebook
This time the chronicle of an announced tragedy has its epicenter in Ischia, an area that experts had long indicated as particularly fragile, and to which the authorities in charge had attributed the highest risk in the classification of areas exposed to destructive phenomena.
Here the resident populations had already experienced the unpredictability of earthquakes and the red alert of landslides, and copious scientific documentation ascertained that similar events are lost in the mists of time: it has been for centuries, not since yesterday, that the area has been tormented from natural disasters.
But knowing it beforehand, and knowing the hydrogeological history of the area collected and told almost meter by meter, if a landslide sows death and destruction (so far one victim, 12 missing and dozens evacuated between Casamicciola and its surroundings), it is difficult to blame the storm unleashed by Mother Nature. On the other hand, it is man who has not done his utmost in all this infinite time to secure such a deeply threatened area. Worse yet. In addition to not having run for cover, despite being warned, man has allowed another phenomenon to develop in the area, the result of human greed, not of Mother Nature's discontent: illegal activity with all its amnesties.
Therefore, if no one intervenes before the foreseen and experienced emergency, the government and institutions are left with only the duty to rescue the inhabitants and to save what can be salvaged after the catastrophe has occurred.
Digging in the mud in search of the people who are missing and moving others before their homes collapse, because bad weather still scourges the area: this is the task of these dramatic hours to which the Civil Defence, the Police Forces and simple citizens with a big heart are giving, as always, the best of themselves.
But first aid is no longer enough in a country where everyone knows where it is and what the risk is hidden among the more than 300,000 square km of surface. We are informed and aware, technology has made us make giant strides in prevention, yet the approach continues to be the same and wrong: reacting the next day instead of acting the day before.
We know, to secure the national territory it will take years of commitments and investments. But the landslide confirms that Ischia is no longer an island among Italy's emergencies and priorities.
(Published on L'Arena di Verona)
www.federicoguiglia.com
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/frana-ischia-rischio-italia/ on Tue, 29 Nov 2022 06:41:43 +0000.