Entire
families were literally wiped off the face of the earth.
On April 6, 2009, at 3:32
a.m., an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck L’Aquila, a city
of 70,000 residents located in the Apennine Mountains of Abruzzo. The epicenter
was in Casacalenda, a town in the province of Campobasso. Thousands of buildings
collapsed because of the quake. Damage occurred as far away as Rome, affecting
the Baths of Caracalla at the foot of the Aventine Hill, which date back to the
third century.
A Country Mourns
As I write this column,
the death toll is nearly 300 and rising. Thousands were injured, nearly 30,000
are homeless and living in tents, while aftershocks and tremors continue. Entire
families were literally wiped off the face of the earth.
Pope Benedict XVI granted
a dispensation for a funeral Mass for the 205 dead held on Good Friday.
(Normally, Good Friday is the only day of the year on which Mass is not
celebrated in the Catholic religion.) The second highest official in the
Vatican, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone presided over the Mass, which was attended by
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s Prime Minister. One report quoted a woman resident of
L’Aquila as saying, “We don’t even have more tears to cry. We are realizing we
are nothing. Life can slip through your hands from one minute to the next.”
What Can You Do?
Almost immediately, the
Las Vegas Italian American community began to organize a fundraiser to assist
those affected by the earthquake. Almost every Italian American organization in
our community is cooperating in the creation of a special event scheduled for
May 17 at which dozens of our local citizens in the entertainment industry
will donate their services to raise funds for the earthquake victims. (See below
for the official announcement for the event.) It is certain that you will be
hearing about the event on television and radio public service announcements.
In addition, Stefano
Ripamonti, Nevada’s Honorary Vice Consul for the Italian Embassy in America, has
given guidance to those interested in helping with financial contributions to
insure that the funds will go directly to the Italian government agencies that
are on the ground and have immediate contact with the needy. To learn how you
can best help, see the accompanying sidebar to this article for information.
It is a sad commentary on
the absence of ethics and morals of some people that there are those who will
use this tragedy to profit for themselves, leaving little or nothing for those
who really need the help and for whom the donors intended it. We thank Vice
Consul Ripamonti for his assistance in ensuring that this does not occur.
We all realize that
economic conditions in our city aren’t wonderful at this time, but we encourage
you to do what you can to reach out and help by attending this event.
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NIAF Event Postponed
Speaking of economic
conditions, the NIAF has chosen to postpone the event honoring Anthony Marnell
II originally scheduled for May 2. It seems that problems with NIAF’s staffing
and organizing of the event resulted in its inability to present the event on
schedule. That is truly unfortunate for Las Vegas, especially because
sponsorships and table sales were quite brisk. Given the number of friends and
admirers that the Marnells have, that is no surprise.
