After the landslides, Italy debate on the construction of sins

After the landslides, Italy debate on the construction of sins

PALERMO. A Sicilian country house, where nine people died on weekends, may have been built illegally.

Floods and huge damage in Sicily Image: REUTERS

After the storms on the Italian island of Sicily, where twelve people were killed over the weekend, a fierce debate broke out about the construction of sins. The flood of a country house at the edge of a stream in the village of Casteldaccia near Palermo killed nine members of a family. The judicial authorities are already investigating.

The mayor of Casteldaccia, Giovanni di Giacinto, said that in 2008, the municipality had ordered to demolish the country house, built too close to the cove without permission. This had never been done. Other houses have been built in recent years without authorization along the creek.

Nine billion damage

The watercourse bed would have been cleaned up a long time ago. Giuseppe Virga, mayor of the town of Altavilla Milicia, near the scene of the accident, also complains of a large number of buildings illegally built in the area.

The construction sins bitter revenge. Landslides and floods kill many people. Natural disasters have caused losses of 9 billion euros in Italy since 2013. Italian geologists warn relentlessly of dangers, but their warnings go unnoticed.

The increasing number of landslides and devastating floods is not attributed to sins and climate change. The bearing also plays a role. In recent decades, entire mountain areas have been abandoned, no one controls the slopes, warn geologists. The maintenance and control of walls, dams and cbads would be totally neglected.

According to experts, 40 billion euros would be needed to secure the tracks in Italy, a sum that the state could not lighten. The more you invest in prevention, the less you will have to spend on landslide damage. "Reducing funds for land conservation means reducing health spending in the country, and in both cases lives are at stake," said a spokesman for the geologist.

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