Italy's response to the April 6 earthquake in L'Aquila was to activate a system that ''surprised the world,'' civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso said Wednesday.
''We dealt with the first phase of the emergency by triggering that special system that has made the Italian civil protection a model,'' he told daily Il Messaggero.
''We showed that this system is 'the' system, efficient and cohesive, original and flexible: a Made in Italy model that surprises the world''.
Bertolaso said solidarity shown by the Italian people meant it was possible to move on to the reconstruction phase of the emergency ''in only seven days''.
He said 50,000 people had been forced to leave their homes in an area of around 1,500 square kilometres affected by the quake, which left 294 dead and 1,500 injured.
Bertolaso said the civil protection department had set up seven operation centres to coordinate activities over 2,000 square kilometres.
''There is a city made up of 106 camps with 4,500 tents, 406 hotels and many houses who are offering hospitality to those who cannot enter their homes or who no longer have a home,'' he said.
On Wednesday morning controls began in L'Aquila on public offices and buildings that collapsed or were damaged in the quake as part of an inquiry into construction safety in the wake of the quake.
