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!