Italy announces 2 million euros for floods – 23/05/2023 – World

The Italian government announced this Tuesday (23) an emergency package of more than € 2 billion (R$ 10.7 billion) of resources destined for the region of Emilia-Romagna, located in the north of the country, and which was devastated by heavy flooding last week. The floods caused the death of at least 15 people and serious material damage.

The announcement was made by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, after a cabinet meeting with ministers to approve the measures. According to the government leader, this is the first package of measures to help the region recover, indicating that there may be others. “We know very well that we are talking about emergencies, that there will be a reconstruction phase, but we are not in a position to quantify the needs as a whole,” said Meloni, who visited the region last Sunday.

Of this amount, €700 million will go to companies, mainly exporters, while €580 million will go to help families and workers left without work due to the extreme event. “In Italy’s current situation, finding 2 billion in a few days is not easy,” added Meloni. The country is the second most indebted Member State of the eurozone, after Greece.

To obtain the resource, the Italian government announced a series of measures. Among them, the temporary increase of one euro in the price of admission to museums, in addition to the use of funds from state lotteries.

Last week, six months’ worth of rain fell in just 36 hours in Italy. Storms devastated part of Emilia-Romagna, home to 4.5 million people. There were records of around 300 landslides, 23 rivers overflowing and 400 roads damaged or destroyed, in addition to 42 municipalities flooded.

Nearly a week after the disaster, some 23,000 people are still homeless and some towns remain flooded, while thousands of hectares of fertile land have been destroyed. According to the Corriere Della Sera newspaper, the government maintains a red alert due to the risk of new floods and landslides in the mountainous regions of Bologna and Romagna.

Nearby countries announce aid

Some countries neighboring Italy have announced aid for the country. On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the deployment of 40 civil security soldiers, as well as pumping equipment to help alleviate flooding. Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia also sent equipment, as announced by the European Commission.

Last week’s floods are the latest example of a series of extreme phenomena to hit Italy since last year, in the midst of a context in which such events are starting to become routine in the country.

This is the second time this month that the Emilia-Romagna region has been hit by an extreme weather phenomenon. Torrential rains were followed by months of drought, which, according to meteorologists, damaged the soil in these areas, reducing the earth’s ability to absorb water.

Scientists claim that the increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather phenomena is related to global warming, caused by human activity. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has already highlighted the urgent need for action to contain the climate crisis.