On Wednesday morning we awoke in our home in Sant'Angelo in Pontano, Central Italy to a metre of snow and no electricity. Then the earth wobbled and we couldn't quite believe it. Since an earthquake hit Amatrice last August, I have kept an emergency bag in the car with duvets, first aid, shoes and warm clothes. This seemed melodramatic in September when the nights were warm. On Wednesday the car was buried in snow rendering it of little use. Luckily the worst tremors were during daylight, though we experienced more than 30 tremors measuring at magnitudes of more than 2.5 during the night.
These quakes seem like just the latest insult to befall our area. The earthquake that hit Amatrice on August 24th was devastating, killing 243 people. Three other earthquakes struck close by in October, though fortunately no one died. This was because so many had been moved out of their homes and were living in tents, camper vans, abandoned shops or public gyms.
We have been lucky. Our home has hardly moved in the quakes. There are a few small cracks in the house and two out-buildings are unsafe. Several of my friends have lost their houses, however. The state is committed to rebuild them, but the process is only beginning as the numbers involved are so great the infrastructure isn’t robust enough to process them all. And after this week, the whole thing starts again. Houses have to be inspected. More people will be out of their homes. The state pays for people to rent alternative accommodation. But so many families have had to move that there is none available.
Large tent village
It was the week before Christmas when the last people moved out of the large tent on the football pitch for something more permanent and farther away. The state may rebuild and may rehome, but if your home was your livelihood, as is the case for many expats who run B&Bs or self-catering accommodation, how do you survive with no income?
It was all so different when we arrived here ten years ago. Our new village was a beautiful, vital, medieval picture postcard. Sant’Angelo in Pontano had it all. We set about restoring some abandoned farm buildings and started our self-catering rental business. We love living here and it is our home, but it has become harder economically as the tourism industry has changed.
The community was struggling but the earthquakes at the end of August pressed fast-forward on the decline of the area. The economy has been rocked. Families have suffered upheaval. Instead of pulling together the community has ripped apart.
The legacy of these earthquakes is huge and for many the story is only beginning. Villages in the mountains such as Visso and Castelangelo sul Nera have been closed down, their inhabitants dispersed. Some moved in with friends and family near and far. Others have been moved to hotels and holiday accommodation at the coast.
Hand-to-mouth existence
Many are terrified. One elderly friend was in tears telling me she has had to move three times since August. She was born here but her family has no resources. They live a hand-to-mouth existence working as cleaners or labourers. They live in rented accommodation and could no more move to the coast than move to the moon. They are trapped.
The small university town of Camerino was hit badly. Fortunately its new hospital was well built and is fully operational, unlike others in the area. But the staff lived largely in Visso, Muccia, Castelangelo sul Nera, which are all closed now. Most of them have been moved to the coast and must commute more than an hour each way to work. Many have been left with almost nothing. Some were allowed back into their homes once to grab whatever they could, but their lives have been turned upside down. This isn’t a few people, this is many, many families.
Yet people carry on. An American friend who was in the shower when the October earthquake struck ran outside in her towel. She had an architect check the house the next day and he advised against staying there. The next morning half of it fell down and the wall behind her bed caved in. She knows she is lucky. She and her teenage kids have lost everything from family photos and clothes to kitchen stuff and two of her cats were killed but if you saw her you wouldn’t know. She drives to work every day. They are living their lives. Just not the lives they were living.
The government kindly offered an exemption on medical charges for those of us living in the earthquake zone. As a consequence people have flocked to have non-routine imaging done – while three local hospitals have been closed – meaning that a friend having chemo has had to wait six weeks for a CAT scan.
Christmas was cancelled
Our town hall is closed off. It was in a medieval convent, a building that has lasted 800 years is now empty. The council is in Portakabins in the piazza. As is the doctor’s surgery. The post office is closed. The Middle School and Elementary school are one. They were off due to the snow on Wednesday. Who knows what the state of play will be now. Our children have missed more than three weeks of school in this academic year. The church is in a tent. Our saint’s festa was cancelled. Our Christmas market was cancelled. Santa’s grotto has been repurposed as the doctor’s waiting room. To be honest, Christmas was pretty much cancelled.
Some serious questions need addressing but I fear there is no will to do so. The areas hit are some of the most beautiful towns and villages in Europe. They are usually medieval. Our church is from 1245, and is unsafe. Consequently the public road in front of it is closed off and there is a detour to our road. (The diocese thinks the council should pay to make it safe, but the council doesn’t have the money.)
Most of the earthquake zone is in the Sibillini National Park, an area of outstanding natural beauty where wolves and bears find refuge. This area was already in economic decline. The Italian economy is in very poor shape. Youth unemployment is very high. Enterprise is anathema in a country where every endeavour is killed at birth by reams red tape and bureaucracy. As it was our villages were in decline.
There were nine kids in my daughter’s class. After the earthquake in Amatrice, two left for a school made of wood. Our historical centre is closed off. Like all the hill towns for many miles around the town is a ghost town.
Seismically safe
So what happens now? These towns are part of the cultural heritage of Italy and of Europe. But to render them seismically safe would cost billions. And they were already half-empty. Are the families who have moved out ever going to come back? How do you reanimate redundant towns? They are beautiful, but impractical. And yet they form the framework for tourism, which is one of the only growth industries in the region.
There will be an election soon. No one is going to win votes by coming up with a radical 30-year plan for redevelopment of the region however.
Earthquakes strike at more than the infrastructure. They prise apart the community. They drive wedges into families. They splinter hopes and expectations. With the right leadership there could be opportunity. There will be large-scale investment in construction. We are about to build a new house to the passive house standard and fully intend going ahead with it. Le Marche could seize the initiative and make all the new builds conform to those standards.
The historical centres could be redeveloped in collaboration with the tourist industry, in consultation with other regions that have risen from the ashes of greater disasters. We have applied to become citizens to ensure we have a vote. It’s a tiny drop in the ocean but it’s all we can do for now. But this is our home and we aren’t going anywhere.
