Premier Matteo Renzi said Tuesday his Home Italy plan to make the country anti-seismic will take years to complete. "We must imagine a challenge lasting not months but years," he said after a devastating August 24, 6.2-magnitude earthquake destroyed several mountain villages in central Italy and claimed 295 lives.
"It's a job that musn't produce results tomorrow morning but must represent... true prevention and professionalism. We're here to ask you to participate with your assessments, your roles and your technical contributions in a job I think should take at least a decade, without a political battle developing over it".
Renzi spoke during a meeting at the premier's office in Rome between government, Milan Polytechnic University Dean Giovanni Azzone, National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI) chief Piero Fassino, Rieti Province President Giuseppe Rinaldi representing the Union of Italian Provinces (UPI), and a representative from the Conference of Regions.
Post-quake reconstruction is "an infrastructural challenge" that must bring together work on "schools, drainage, wideband, hydrogeological instability, urban peripheries, sporting facilities - all articulated together in an overall project with clear guidelines and comprehensive leadership," Renzi explained.
"I would like all mayors, governors and administrators to get the message that in Italy we are at the drawing board once again - we're coming up with engineering and construction design projects using new criteria and vanguard technologies," the premier said.
This, Renzi said, is why he has called on the expertise of the Milan Polytechnic dean.
"(Azzone) is the top authority in the field," Renzi said.
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