By Amy Leichtman | Individual Giving Manager
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 75 days 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.
Based on the needs of the affected, three main areas of focus were put into action. First, was the need for an inclusive dialogue between citizens and institutions. ActionAid employed a mobile unit that traveled more than 5000km in 10 weeks, visiting more than 42 sites and allowed for 21 meetings with affected citizens – all totaled, 848 people and 22 different organizations were reached.
Second, ActionAid began supporting school populations in carrying out the second half of school year activities by signing an agreement with the Ministry of Education allowing ActionAid the accreditation to work in schools.
Finally, ActionAid, along with the help of 200 “digital activists,” created an information platform that matches the supply and demand of services needed and is able to monitor long-term reconstruction. This has resulted in over 100,000 views since its launch.
Our long term efforts will ensure the safety of all affected citizens, especially women and children, as the rebuilding process is just getting underway. 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.
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