Earthquake, Draghi in Amatrice 5 years after the earthquake

(from the correspondent Silvia Mancinelli) – On the fifth anniversary today of the earthquake that destroyed Amatrice taking 299 people away, the construction sites alternate with rubble and houses that remained ‘frozen’ at 3.36 am on that night of death. The scaffolding and the staked walls, the windows of houses open on walls that have never been put back on their feet. The stones, the dust, the bell tower and what remains of the convent. The cordoned off streets, the hospital reborn from its own ashes. Prime Minister Mario Draghi was present at the sports field. Here, with temperatures well above average, the memorial ceremony takes place. Like last year, when the then Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte came, there are many chairs reserved for residents and left empty. Between the Giovanni Minnozzi park and the sports hall there is a swarm of policemen, carabinieri and firefighters: with Draghi, also the extraordinary commissioner for reconstruction Giovanni Legnini. In the houses, still those that were supposed to be temporary, the residents are instead closed, kept awake as every year for the night vigil.