Regulation

Mafia linked to poor construction of earthquake-hit buildings

A 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the country’s central region on 24 August, killing nearly 300 people.

According to multiple media reports, Italian authorities had launched an investigation into why buildings that had recently undergone improvements to increase resistance to seismic activity collapsed. It would also look at whether they were fraudulently registered as adhering to particular standards.

Questions were raised over certain buildings, including a primary school that collapsed despite being renovated to resist earthquakes in 2012 at a cost of €700,000 ($AUD1 million) and a bell tower that fell despite being restored after an earthquake hit nearby in 2009.

Anti-mafia prosecutor Franco Roberti told Italian media “too many” of the buildings had collapsed after the latest disaster.

“Experience and scientific and judicial acquisitions tell us that if a house is built well, if the anti-seismic standards have been met, in [the face of] a dramatic event that part of the building can get injured, crack, but can not pulverise and implode,” Roberti was quoted as stating in Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.

Mafia danger

Roberti also reportedly said the mafia made money by using “poor concrete” during construction projects.

He warned it was up to the authorities to monitor business ties with criminal organisations in order to prevent involvement during the latest reconstruction process.

"The risks are there, it's impossible to hide,” Roberti said. “And post-earthquake reconstruction is historically a delicious morsel for criminal groups and colluding business interests."

Anna Sergi, an organised crime specialist from the University of Essex, told CNN she was pessimistic the mafia could be kept entirely out of the reconstruction.

"There is very likely to be corruption in a reconstruction effort like this, because in Italy, where there is a lot of money, there is always a link to mafia power," she said.

According to reports, proceeds raised from public museums across Italy on Sunday, 28 August, would be used to restore the architecture of the original buildings.

Leave a Reply

Send this to a friend