On 16-17 May 2023, exactly one year ago, Romagna was overwhelmed by a tragedy that will remain in its memory for a long time and which caused 16 deaths, 36 thousand displaced people and certified damages of 8.5 billion euros. Entire valleys disfigured by thousands of landslides, large cities and dozens of villages submerged, even for days.
We too have shoveled out, not only the mud, but – with equal effort – hundreds and hundreds of news stories, almost 24 hours a day without stopping, for days and days, managing to give a continuous connection to the catastrophe that involved us a year ago. to the rest of the world, a connection between us. The threads that bind a community were held together, at a time when fear, the rising water and the endless black night of blackouts and helicopters in the sky were causing them to loosen.
On the first anniversary of the flood that devastated Romagna, a reflection on what it means to provide information during extraordinary events. And for once we allow ourselves to talk about ourselves, about CesenaToday to think coldly about that the intangible and often taken for granted asset that is local information. It is the information that “is always there” and that arrives in one’s territory before the large television networks and, often, ends up acting as a logistical base.
In those hectic days it proved to be as important as bread. In truth it always is for one reason or another, but in that drama the information was an antidote to something profound, distressing, ancient: the irrationality of fear, the sense of emptiness that is created in each of us when certainties, habits… and social connections suddenly disappear.
Not only when the power came back on, but also when the normal flow of information was restored, that terror at least appeared more manageable, more rational, showed some clear streak of hope amidst the pitch black. We understood this during the flood: it is as important as electricity connection or telephone signal coverage. Information keeps us mutually connected. United.
As we said, we have been shoveling “news”, we have been soaked and muddy since the very first hours of that tragic evening a year ago. We did it even in those moments when people were literally becoming islands, divided by dirty, cold and muddy streams, and no one knew exactly what was happening a hundred meters from his house. Already on that evening without street lights, some of us were walking against the current in that thigh-deep water to reach a place where the news was, verifying it and recreating, once again, that connection which does not make everything easier, or more beautiful, but which tempts at least make it more readable.
Let’s be clear, we only did our job. But it is worth remembering that information is not created by computers and telephones, even if we are used to using these devices to consult it, but it is made up of people, of journalists who, like everyone else, in those days tried to push back the water and feared for their loved ones, but at the same time struggled with the blackouts to be able to finish and publish a piece, who boarded an army truck to reach isolated citizens demanding their slice of connection to others, telling their own personal version of the drama. Journalists who interviewed, filmed, photographed… documented.
We walked and often slipped on that mud to give news that we might not like, but that needed to be given. Then, in the following days, we transmitted hundreds and hundreds of other information, those of public utility, “how to…”, “where to find the…”, “who to contact for…”. An online newspaper, a newspaper in real time does this too, if necessary. Many institutions, civil protection and solidarity bodies have called us to send appeals, saying “If you write it in half an hour everyone will know…”. This also means providing information during extraordinary events. We definitely didn’t do a perfect job, nothing ever is, but we did our best. And you readers have rewarded us, consulting us and confirming us even on that occasion that you hear us among you. On that occasion we felt the full weight of that responsibility, and we are grateful to you for giving it to us.
