“A day to say thank you. Flood, one year later”: this is the title of the great event organized by Emilia Romagna region together withRegional Agency for Territorial Security and Civil Protectionheld at PalaCattani of Faenza with over 2000 guests: Civil protection, institutions, state forces, world of volunteering. For everyone present a canvas bag with the book “What matters”created by the Communication and Information Agency of the Regional Council and the shots of the Cesena photographer Marco Onofri, as well as a souvenir pin from the Civil Protection.
L’objective of this event era thank everyone whoin various capacities, with or without uniform, they rushed in those terrible days of May a year ago, to rescue and help citizens of the areas affected by the flood. But also and above all remember the 17 victimsfor which there was an emotional response minute of silence (pictured below).
“Today, one year later, it is the moment of thanks but also of commemoration of the victims – commented the president and vice president of the Region Stefano Bonaccini and Irene Priolo – and the renewal of commitments. An immense ‘thank you’ to all those who worked tirelessly alongside the injured communities during the emergency, and not only that: many continue to do so today to strengthen local security and carry out reconstruction interventions. From our part we will never forget what happened: we have made some assessments and, as we have already had the opportunity to say, we reiterate that we will not back down until the last refund. This, however, is intended to be a day to say above all, forcefully, thank you, because everyone’s presence and help were fundamental in getting up and starting again”.
On this occasion it was done, through very meticulous numbers, the balance of the interventions implemented and occurred after a year.
As regards the forces in the fieldover 10 thousand units operated daily in the area concerned National Civil Protection Service (in the photo below), including 1,141 firefighters, 455 Army and Navy soldiers, 926 carabinieri, 70 coast guards, 592 state policemen, 159 members of the financial police, 442 Red Cross units, 851 national volunteers (for assistance to the population, scouting and rescue), 764 regional volunteers. THE Fire fighters they implemented almost 12 thousand interventions with 350 vehicles (including 6 helicopters); 26 helicopters were supplied by the Armed Forces, together with 109 vehicles, 45 inflatable boats, 22 excavators and 7 motor pumps. The Port Authority contributed with 3 helicopters, a plane, 2 boats and 12 divers, the 118 with 4 helicopters and the Carabinieri with 2. Over 14,300 Civil Protection volunteers intervened in the emergency: approximately half (7,650) of the Emilia-Romagna Coordinations. 5,130 volunteers were guaranteed by the 13 regional mobile columns from 12 regions.
On the side of donationsthe fundraiser “Help for Emilia-Romagna”started immediately by the Region, made it possible to collect 52 million euros. Out of the total amount donated, 5 million They were assigned to Municipalities for families and people in difficulty; 5.1 million to businesses; almost 10 millions to citizens and families also to reimburse the costs for the construction of protection systems such as bulkheads and barriers and 5.4 million of Euro to the restoration of infrastructure for young people, sport and cultural spaces.
The remaining portion of 27 million is intended to contributions for those who had the vehicle – car, motorcycle, moped – destroyed, or even just damaged, from the flood. At the moment, around 5,600 requests for contributions have been submitted for almost 19 million euros; already liquidated more than 5.5 million euros. As of July 31, 2023 the regional civil protection agency had provided 7.6 million euros for the Cas (Contribution for independent accommodation (Cas), implemented to support those who had lost their homes, to 9371 families and over 100 million for the CIS (Immediate support contribution).
On the front of reconstruction sitesI am 402 construction sites on rivers headed by the regional Agency for Territorial Security and Civil Protection affecting the affected provinces of Ravenna, Forlì-Cesena, Rimini, Bologna, Ferrara, Modena and Reggio Emilia. Of these, 130 I am Already States completed, 158 in progress And 114 in planning. The whole for a total investment of approximately 343 million euros, including urgent sums, emergencies, advance regional programming and programming from other sources. There are another 298 interventions (of which 148 already concluded) of hydraulic defense for 267.5 million of euros always financed by the ordinances of the Commissioner of Reclamation Consortia. Another 78 interventions are carried out by AiPo (Interregional Agency for the Po River) for 39.2 million.
Finally, it was announced that the special preliminary plan for reconstruction will be updated within this month the definitive special plan will be created with the list of structural and non-structural works and interventions. The regionFurthermore, will shortly start a process of active involvement of the communities that were affected by the flood, citizens, the productive world and administrations. A path that aims at sharing the information contained in the Special Plans and actively listening to the requests coming from the territories.
