Dr. Antonio Castaldo for IESUS European Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences..
Thanks to the permission of the Fire Brigade of Latina, on the spot, and the assistance of the team leader Giovanni Rosato and Fire Department, Pine and Cosimo Giordano Merola we entered the devastated center of the city of Onna, once lived, now rubble. Everything collapsed. A slice of free garden, with paths and bushes of colorful tulips, testifies for a moment the serenity the beauty and simplicity of life of small towns here in the Italian province of Abruzzo has been shaken to death and wounded by the earthquake of April 6, 2009. At San Gregorio I know Grandfather Ivo, a retired man of age 63.The night of the earthquake he immediately left the house, and upon perceiving the tragedy he immediately participated in first aid. A strong smell of gas filled the village and he knew where the key input of local distribution was and rushed to close it to avoid risk of fires and explosions. The church, completely collapsed offers the light of day, the gilded stucco of a corner stood with difficulty. Grandfather Ivo promised his grandchild that the church will be completely rebuilt because "I grew up in a town with a central church, so it will be also for my grandson." In the tent city of San Martino I met someone from San Gregorio. This is Antonella Gatti, age 50, married. Antonella tells me that her husband went down suddenly into the street that night helping the first rescuers to pull out some of the dead from the rubble. In fact, even an orphanage in San Gregorio, with nuns and babies have succumbed to the earthquake. Antonella then remembers also the eighty earthquakes to Naples and she a former Eastern student now relives the drama in her own home. And today's students, those of Aquila, who livened up the city, now seem shadows and ghosts in eternal custody of the debris murderers who have designed their fate under the blows of nature's unrelenting and, in several cases, under the fault of insatiable men. We drove over the ghostly city of Aquila, together in silence we and the heavy machinery to dig and remove stones and desolation where once there was life.
Now that the state is intervening, with laws and economic benefits, with homes and long- term care, hopefully there will be a rapid and rational reconstruction. We wish as soon as possible the wounded Aquila, is fully recovered, for you to immediately make a rapid flight returning to contemplate the Abruzzi redeemed from pain today.
Dr. Antonio Castaldo
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