Earthquake in Central Italy: celebration of the fifth anniversary of the earthquake

On the day of the fifth anniversary of the violent earthquake that struck Central Italy on August 24, 2016, the Head of the Civil Protection Department Fabrizio Curcio returned to the worst-hit places to celebrate the memory of the 299 people that lost their lives during the earthquake. The entire National Civil Protection Service was immediately mobilized to manage the emergency, with the involvement of more than 6 thousand operators.

During the morning, the President of the Council of Ministers, accompanied by the Head of the Department and the Extraordinary Commissioner for Reconstruction Giovanni Legnini, visited the town of Amatrice, a symbolic place of the emergency, to look at some of the work in progress in the red zone. The Prefect and the President of the Province of Rieti, the Mayor of Amatrice and the Councillor of the Lazio Region for Reconstruction Policies were also on site.

The celebrations for the anniversary of the earthquake then moved the institutional convoy to the "Giovanni Minozzi" Memorial Park, where the Prime Minister laid a laurel wreath at the base of the monument in memory of the earthquake victims. Mario Draghi then met with representatives of the families of the earthquake victims at the "Paride Tilesi" sports centre and, together with the Head of the Civil Protection Department and the other institutional authorities, took part in the suffrage ceremony.

The program of celebrations continued with an initiative in memory of the colleague Tiziana Lo Presti, officer of the Civil Protection Department who died during the night of the earthquake. There was also the inauguration of the memorial stone for the victims in the village of Illiaca in the municipality of Accumoli. The suffrage religious celebrations in the municipalities of Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto will follow, attended by the institutional and local authorities.