The president of the Campania region demands the demolition of the houses built “in the riverbeds or built by the Camorra”
While searches by land and sea are not stopping to try to find the four people who are still missing, controversy is erupting because of the avalanche that shook the island of Ischia last Saturday, off the Italian city of Naples, leaving eight dead. Many of the homes of the 230 people who, according to the latest assessment, have not yet been able to return to their homes because they were hit by the massive avalanche of mud and earth, were built in areas of high hydrogeological risk.
Some of the houses are said to have even been built without planning permission, although they benefited from later regulations by paying a penalty. This is a relatively common practice in many cities in Italy, where it is strange that these abusive houses end up being demolished.
Vincenzo De Luca, the president of Campania, the region to which Ischia belongs, blames this disaster on the ‘turning a blind eye’ that municipalities usually do with these situations. “Houses built on the riverbeds, in sensitive hydrogeological areas, in areas with environmental protection or built by Camorra companies should be demolished,” De Luca said.
It is common for the Neapolitan Mafia to build these houses in the areas they control through their construction companies, which they use to launder black money. However, constructive abuses are not only committed by organized crime. The residents of Ischia themselves admit that they have built their houses without permission for years.
“They should have stopped everything years ago, but the system ate us up, which worked out well for everyone. There is an urban plan everywhere, but not in Ischia. Why? Because it couldn’t be built anywhere,” a local builder who wished to remain anonymous confessed to the newspaper ‘La Repubblica’.
That the Ischia tragedy could have been prevented was also clear to Peppino Conte, a retired engineer and former mayor of Casamicciola, the city worst hit by the avalanche. In the days before the arrival of the heavy rains that triggered the landslide, Conte sent several certified letters to the various authorities requesting that the area be evacuated due to the danger that existed. In previous months, he also denounced the lack of maintenance of the drainage systems that would have limited damage from the flood. His complaints had no effect.
Francesco Del Deo, mayor of Forio d’Ischia, another affected municipality, acknowledged that the necessary work had not been done to prevent the tragedy, although he blamed the regional and national authorities because “the municipalities do not have the necessary funds .
The highest councilor of Forio d’Ischia also stressed that landslides are common on the island, recalling that there was already a similar flood in 1910 that left 15 dead. The mayor also confessed that houses have been built in the area without permission, although he believes it is a common problem across the country.
Source: La Verdad
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