Italy Earthquake Relief

On August 24, 2016, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck Italy. Nearly 300 people lost their lives and many more men, women and children were affected while aftershocks continued to impact the area. As with all emergency response, ActionAid took a two pronged approach to our relief efforts by creating a short term plan that prioritized the safety and support of women, children, and people with disabilities, along with a long-term plan to work with communities to map safe public buildings and spaces and ensure that citizens voices were heard in the rebuilding process.

A large part of recovering from an event like an earthquake is dealing with the trauma associated with what happened. As ActionAid is particularly committed to children in the aftermath of a disaster, we partnered the Ministry of Education to bring 200 teachers from affected areas together to give them trainings and support on participatory courses for students after traumatic events. Not only did they receive training on how to move forward and help students feel safe again, they had the opportunity to share their own experiences and their ideas for helping their students cope with what happened.

ActionAid and the Ministry of Education are also working together to help schools get involved in participatory trainings to redesign affected areas. Currently we are working with three schools (Acquasanta Terme, Pieve Torina, and Camerino) to redesign school spaces to be safer and more effective for learning. By training members of school communities to help in the redesign process, they are able to take control of their own spaces and work to make the whole community feel safe again. Additionally, we are working to build six community centres in Amatrice and Accumoli. These spaces will be staffed with a psychologist to offer emotional and psychological support to community members dealing with trauma.

Additionally, ActionAid Italy and our partners (Ondata, Open Polis, Cittadinanza Attiva and Trasparency International) have created a national network for the accountability of the reconstruction. We have helped to create a new platform called “Ricostruzione Trasparente” which is able to collect and monitor data for the reconstruction to ensure that funds are being used properly and in accordance with the public’s knowledge. We are in the process of creating participatory tools to allow citizens to use the platform more effectively and hold their government to account.

Thus far, through our trainings and meetings, we have been able to directly reach 2,529 people, many of whom are students. Additionally, through follow-up local trainings and meetings held by activists who we trained, we have indirectly reached an additional 15,110 people.

Thank you so much for you ongoing support of our project. it allows us to continue this important work!

On August 24, 2016, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck Italy. Nearly 300 people lost their lives and many more men, women and children were affected while aftershocks continued to impact the area. ActionAid’s experience in emergencies has shown that each community and each emergency has specific characteristics that need to be taken into account. For this reason, ActionAid’s intervention has placed the most vulnerable people at its center, allowing their needs to be identified and addressed. After withstanding two additional earthquakes on October 26 and October 30, the ActionAid team has continued their work in the disaster-stricken areas of Italy.

Thanks to your generous support, ActionAid was able to implement a timely response that helped get affected citizens’ needs addressed. In these first several months of recovery, ActionAid has supported and promoted coordination efforts between local organizations and authorities, citizens and institutions, through presence and facilitation of local dialogue, as well as through online and tech initiatives.

In keeping up with ActionAid’s unique method of response in fusing short term emergency needs with long term recovery, a great deal of focus was placed on government transparency and civic monitoring, the goal being to develop a system that models participatory monitoring of the reconstruction process. Additionally, there was a need to advocate to policy makers in Italy, the need for transparency.

Thus, ActionAid has created a national network for transparency and monitoring of the reconstruction, with the inclusion of other local Italian organizations. Since its creation, the network has held a meeting where a proposal was presented to the Extraordinary Commissioner for Reconstruction, asking for participatory monitoring by citizens as well as the Commissioner’s cooperation during the process.

ActionAid has also started a service for citizens to offer them legal advice regarding their rights and procedures that are mapped out in post-earthquake emergency legislation. As of the writing of this report, 4 scheduled citizen town halls have been held to provide further information to wider groups of those affected.

Our long term efforts will ensure the safety of all affected citizens, especially women and children, as the rebuilding process continues. As in all emergencies, we rely on the community itself to lead relief efforts and tell us what issues are most important to them. It is with that community learning that we enter our long term recovery work.

We couldn’t do any of this vital work with your generosity. Thank you for standing in solidary with the people of Italy when they need it most.

Links:

• https://www.actionaidusa.org/