12165 Help/advice - Earthquake

Hi.
I have been affected by the earthquake, but it is difficult to assess how badly, because we have no confirmation of the damage to our house, only that the village inhabitants are living in tents. The house is in San Benedetto in Perillis, which is close to the areas of serious damage.
Unfortunately I am unable to make any contact with the Sindaco, and my italian is poor at best. We don't have anyone else in the village we can contact.
So, two questions (for now):
Does anyone out there have any specific information about my village?
Is there a process I should be now doing in order to have my house checked?
I'm assuming the commune will not let people back into property until it has been checked and approved.
I want to fly out asap, but clearly the infrastructure and hotels probably can't accommodate visitors at the moment.
Feeling very worried and frustrated, so any help/advice much appreciated.
Andy.

Category
Legal

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 05:11

Andy

You might like to ask your questions where more local people will be able to answer them.

As far as I know most communes have now checked all their properties and cordoned off any, which are considered unsafe. If your property is damaged there is a process to go through which is explained on Abruzzolutely.

Do not let reports of people sleeping in cars worry you, there has been very minimal damage in my area of Abruzzo but still most are taking no chances and many are sleeping either in cars, tents or campers.

I hope you manage to find out and that all is well but if you have no luck, pm me and I’ll take a drive out and have a look for you, take some photos and send them to you.

Good luck

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 09:36

Thanks Nielo. I've posted this on the Abruzzo specific forum, so will hopefully have some more information from the local guys. Your offer to go to the house is really appreciated, but I don't want to put you out if I can help it.
Andy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 15:15

I'm glad you have asked this question of 'the locals' - but as far as any urgency in your arrival is concerned, I would not worry. In fact, I'd suggest you stay away for a bit until things get a bit more normal.

At the moment the inspections of houses will be being carried out by firemen and protezione civile chaps, simply to ascertain whether it is a good idea to tell the occupants that it is safe to move back in (or unsafe to move back in). These visits have no relevance to the future contributions towards rebuilding or repairing costs which will be available later - there will be plenty of time to make the relevant application for these funds.

I think personally that it would cut a rather 'brutta figura' to be amongst the first to enquire from the comune 'where is the money?', especially since it is 'just' a holiday home.