The President of the Council of Ministers, Mario Draghi, arrived in Amatrice by helicopter around 10 am. At the sound of the trumpet sounded by a carabiniere who sang the Silence, the premier placed a laurel wreath at the monument to the victims of the earthquake. in the Don Minozzi park of the Lazio town which was destroyed by the magnitude 6 quake on the night of 24 August 2016. As the plaque under the travertine monument recalls, the victims of Amatrice were 237 out of 299 overall.
Following the ceremony also representatives of the institutions including the head of Civil Protection, Fabrizio Curcio. Thus began the ceremonies for the fifth anniversary of the earthquake that also swept the villages of Accumuli, in the province of Rieti as Amatrice, and of Arquata sul Tronto (Ascoli Piceno).
The premier, together with the other authorities, then participated in the mass celebrated by the bishop of Rieti, Monsignor Domenico Pompili, in the nearby sports field. “Again this year we crossed the night to arrive at 3:36 when 5 years ago the earth shook, houses were turned upside down and lives broken. A hard, tiring exercise that requires waiting and giving up sleep, but the memory of our loved ones cannot remain an abstract and disenchanted exercise. It requires physical, mental and spiritual involvement because the pain is always alive and cannot bear to be exorcised in any other way. The only antidote to pain is love », said the bishop of Rieti, Monsignor Domenico Pompili during the homily.
Immediately after the ceremony, which ended with a thought about the relatives of the victims, Draghi paused briefly to speak with some residents, and after an institutional greeting to the local authorities he left Amatrice. «If I am here today it is because the State is close to you. In the past it was slow but now the situation is different: the reconstruction works are proceeding faster. I am here today to bring you the confidence and commitment of the Government, ”said the Prime Minister this morning during a meeting with a delegation of families of the victims. This was reported in a note from Palazzo Chigi, adding that the premier listened with great attention and participation to the words of the victims’ families.
During the meeting, the topic of the creation of a fund for the victims of earthquake events was also addressed, which has been pursued for years by family members, on which – it was recalled – there is already a parliamentary initiative and which is also attention of the Government.