A 12-month emergency, extendable for another 12. One hundred million euros will be divided equally between the three regions affected by Cyclone Harry: Sardinia, Sicily, and Calabria. And the governors (Todde, Schifani, and Occhiuto) will be appointed emergency commissioners.
This was the decision made this afternoon in a quick Council of Ministers meeting, which lasted about twenty minutes, attended by President Alessandra Todde and the governors of Sicily and Calabria.
And tomorrow morning, January 27, starting at 11:00 , the Minister for Civil Protection and Maritime Policies, Nello Musumeci, will visit some of the hardest-hit areas in Sardinia with President Todde . First, the Poetto beach in Cagliari, in the Lido area , where there will also be a press point; then, along the route to Capoterra, the 195 , which suffered severe damage due to the storm surge; and, finally, Capoterra, La Maddalena Beach .
The press conference that was supposed to follow the Council of Ministers meeting was canceled, and the measures taken were summarized in a statement by Musumeci himself.
The Meloni government has declared a national state of emergency in Sicily, Sardinia, and Calabria, which were hit by the severe weather of recent days. The state of emergency can last 12 months, extendable for another 12 , as provided for in the Civil Protection Code.
The sum of €100 million is nothing more than an advance "to cover the very first interventions envisaged in Article 25, letters a, b, and c of the Civil Protection Code." This includes "organizing and implementing rescue and assistance interventions for the population"; "restoring the functionality of public services and strategic network infrastructure"; and "activating initial economic measures to provide immediate support to the population's economic and social fabric."
In the coming days, the national executive will adopt a new inter-ministerial provision " to allow for the restoration and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure, as soon as the regions have completed a detailed assessment of the damage . The reconstruction effort will be coordinated by the respective regional presidents, who were appointed today as delegated commissioners with broad powers of derogation."
In the case of particularly complex projects, Musumeci explains, "Law 40, the state of reconstruction, would be activated. Then the state of emergency ends and a state of reconstruction begins, for which the person in charge will no longer be the delegated commissioner, i.e., the regional president, but a special commissioner, just as we did in Central Italy and Emilia-Romagna. We haven't identified him yet because we're not in a state of reconstruction. We're in a state of emergency, within which we can proceed with the restoration of some infrastructure, at least those that aren't particularly complex. We're confident that procedures will be accelerated, for example, regarding the resurfacing of beaches; some have completely disappeared; I've seen them with my own eyes."
A meeting with Anas and Ferrovie is scheduled for the next few days "because the location of the railway and roadbeds will also need to be reviewed, given that the storm surges will return. We cannot imagine a train and a railway bed being placed five meters from the sea ."
Musumeci then discussed mandatory insurance policies that don't cover storm surges : "In the coming days, we will also be meeting with ANIA, the association of insurance companies, to understand how we can find a balance to integrate the types of damage that were and are envisaged in the law published with the 2024 budget . There have been some controversies with business owners, we are trying to restore a climate of calm, and I rely on the common sense of the insurance companies because if we want to open this important chapter in a new risk culture, one hand must help the other, as they say in my area."
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took to social media after outlining the decision made by the Council of Ministers: "The State stands with the affected communities. The Regions, with their Presidents appointed as extraordinary commissioners, will have the appropriate means and powers to intervene effectively and promptly . I would like to once again thank Minister Nello Musumeci, the Civil Protection Department, local governments, and all those involved in this sector. In emergencies, Italy knows how to be an even more united community ."
President Alessandra Todde described the meeting as "positive": "The €100 million, divided equally among the Regions, is only an initial allocation. We highlighted the critical issues in our region, particularly infrastructure problems, roads, rural roads, but also ports and coastlines ." The damage calculated by the 112 Sardinian municipalities currently amounts to €200 million, the president explained, but this figure is constantly being updated. This is a preliminary estimate of the damage caused by Cyclone Harry, which, moreover, does not take into account non-municipal roads and infrastructure.
(Unioneonline/L)