Silvio Berlusconi ignored protesters when he toured the earthquake-hit town of L’Aquila yesterday and boasted that projects to rehouse those made homeless were superior to those everywhere else in the world.
In a carefully managed visit to the town in the Abruzzo region the Italian Prime Minister appeared to sidestep almost all contact with the 20,000 people living in 140 tent communities.
His entourage invited only TV cameras and photographers to follow at a discreet distance as he greeted building workers in Bazzano on L’Aquila’s outskirts, where construction of apartments is taking place.
Mr Berlusconi was reported to have been met by 70 angry residents when he visited the city council offices while journalists were kept waiting for him several miles away. The devastating earthquake in April killed 300 people and left 50,000 homeless.
Mr Berlusconi was said to have been met by around 70 angry residents when he visited the city council offices unaccompanied by media, while journalists were kept waiting for him several miles away.
Mr Berlusconi said that construction was on target and that 30,000 people would have housing by mid-November or, at the latest, by the end of year.
“This kind of extraordinary operation has never happened anywhere else in the world,” he said. “Not with Katrina [the hurricane that struck New Orleans], or with earthquake reconstruction in Japan or China.”
Accompanied by the head of the Civil Protection authority, Guido Bertolaso, Mr Berlusconi shook hands with construction workers and raised the Italian flag. He claimed that 15,000 apartments would be completed by the end of September and 4,000 damaged homes would be repaired by the end of September.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6734070.ece
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