The 6.3 magnitude earthquake that rocked central Italy on April 6 has, at last count, claimed 272 lives and left 28,000 people homeless. Initial estimates of the physical damage range between 2 billion and 3 billion euros, an amount that poses a considerable challenge to Italy’s debt-ridden national economy.
Photo: Alessio 85
As is customary when any country faces a natural disaster, other nations immediately began extending aid offers to Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Russia, and Switzerland were just a few countries offering assistance.
When asked by international media whether the country needed financial or rescue assistance, Prime Minister Berlusconi’s initial response was to politely decline aid, indicating that no tangible international support was needed at the moment. His the Interior Minister elaborated:
“We have the resources needed for reconstruction, including European funds, and we need to move quickly to avoid the problems of wasteful or slow spending that we’ve seen in past interventions.”
Yet rather than view this statement as a sign of the Italian government’s self-sufficiency (why not decline resources politely when so many other places are in need and the world economy is in a shambles?), critics complained that Berlusconi was snubbing his counterparts in a diplomatic faux pas. He has since agreed to accept some assistance for the rebuilding of historic buildings.
What do you think? Should Berlusconi have accepted aid that he believes his country doesn’t need?
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4 Comments... join the discussion!
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I think it’s fantastic that at least ONE person (country) is NOT asking for money. Very refreshing!
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Ha. I assumed this would be about his comment that displaced survivors living in shelters should view it as a holiday… The man’s a useless blowhard but in this case, I don’t see why he should be peer-pressured into accepting aid.
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What maybe in the foreign press hasn’t come out is that Berlusconi is not only a disaster in diplomacy but also in domestic politics. After the recent earthquake, he advised people from the hit areas, who had just survived but many had lost family members and friends, to take the temporary tents as a “camping weekend” and to bring the suncream.
This tragedy could have been of much lesser proportions, if only the relevant authorities, such as the “Protezione Civile,” had listened to the tecnician Giampiero Giuliani, who had detected this quake a month ago. It’s sad seeing now all politicians going to the region only looking for cameras and publicity.
Abruzzo is a very sismic area, and the recently-built hospital that fell like a house of cards was apparently not adequate. The builder was “Impregilo,” company financed by the government and involved in a mafia related case. Once again Italian people are victim of malgovernance, political collusion with mafia, corruption and incompetence.
And if that wasn’t enough, the prime minister is making jokes out of it.↵
