Housing crisis after natural disaster: the aftermath of the November 1980 Southern Italian earthquake.

Reprinted from Geoforum; 1984; Vol 15 No 4; pp489-516

Reprint

The problems of mass-homelessness created by the earthquake of 23 November 1980 in southern Italy were tackled by the Italian government in two phases, respectively involving resettlement of the survivors in temporary prefabricated homes and reconstruction of permanent housing. This paper firstly describes and evaluates the programme of temporary shelter provision, showing that, although it was successful in rehousing survivors, it has helped to alter the urban layout and architectural style of villages in the disaster area and coupled with indiscriminate demolition of damaged buildings, has reduced the emphasis on permanent reconstruction. Special powers adopted by the government to achieve the resettlement are also evaluated. Next, the main reconstruction laws, which were passed about 6 months after the disaster are examined. Large-scale financial provision for the reconstruction process is shown to have been tempered by bureaucratic delays, legal complexities and a certain amount of inequity in the distribution of funds. Aftershocks and subsequent earthquakes are described in terms of how they prolonged the psychological and physical emergency and helped to stimulate official preparedness for disaster relief. Finally, landslides, floods and other natural disasters occurring during the aftermath of the 1980 earthquake are shown to have had a cumulative effect that resulted in the formation in 1982 of a Ministry for Civil Protection and the belated strengthening of national measures for disaster relief and prevention