Pozzuoli wants to return to normality, or at least that’s what local institutions have announced, but there is an “invisible” emergency which for now concerns 717 residents who have had to leave their homes deemed at risk. A number that could grow further.
Meanwhile, the councilor for productive activities of the Municipality, Titti Zazzaro, writes with satisfaction on social media: «Away with the curtains from Pozzuoli, our request has been heard. This represents an important return to normality, hoping that there is no longer any need.” A return to normality which, however, the citizens evicted from their apartments will not enjoy.
After the 4.4 magnitude earthquake on Monday 20th, there were 1,400 reports on private buildings by citizens. Reports of more or less profound injuries that have generated the fear of returning home. Mayor Luigi Manzoni has provided, in recent days, the complete numbers of what he does not define as an emergency, but which photograph a situation which, to date, does not have the tools to be remedied. According to the latest data, out of 1,212 checks carried out, 76 eviction orders were issued. A number that is inevitably destined to grow, not only if we wait for the checks still to be processed, but also and above all if we take into account the 138 real estate units with eviction forecasts, the 3 eviction phonograms and the 32 warnings to frequent places.
There are those who have received the ordinance, but many are still waiting for it. What these citizens have in common is therefore not the document that attests to what they no longer have, but the uncertainty of the future. Up to now, the families who have requested housing, going to Palatrincone for the census, have been 258 for a total of 717 people. These are over seven hundred Pozzuoli citizens who found themselves homeless, giving up part of their possessions and habits. For now, 50 have accepted hotel accommodation while, as the mayor pointed out, 74 families have refused it. Rejections dictated by needs and difficulties, like those of Maria Misto who received accommodation in a hotel in Trecase.
«They assured me that the accommodation radius was maximum between Varcaturo and Giugliano, but instead I had to refuse because such a distant solution makes it difficult for me to work and provide assistance to my mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s – writes Maria on social media – It would have been difficult for her too be transported every time for the healthcare she still has in Pozzuoli. I gave up a hotel room in Trecase, but not the urgency of a placement.”
Between those who still have a house and those who no longer have one, there are those who can now only live in part of it. «I had major cracks, after calling the controls they isolated part of my house. They told me that I can stay, but that I can’t use the bedroom”, explains Veronica. Yet, the mayor reiterates to the citizens: «Pozzuoli is a living city. He will have to continue to live and we will not leave this city.” Staying in your own city seems to have become almost the first commandment of the true Puteolano. Learning to live with bradyseism is the necessary precondition for living in the Campi Flegrei. The tents damaged the image of normality of Pozzuoli, the barriers outside the evacuated buildings remain, but they are hardly visible to the eyes of tourists. But normality has been lost by those hundreds of evicted people and by the others who could soon become evicted themselves.
