The death toll from the landslide on the Italian island of Ischia, in the south of the peninsula, rose to eight, according to a new official balance published Monday by local authorities.
The landslide caused on Saturday by heavy rains in Ischiathe largest island in the Neapolitan archipelago, also left four people missingindicated this Monday the prefecture of Naples on which the municipality of Casamicciola Terme depends, the town of about 8,000 inhabitants where the tragedy occurred.
The landslide was the result of several concurrent factors, including the deforestation, lack of adequate maintenance and prevention, lack of building control and massive urbanizationreported the AFP agency.
The government had already declared a state of emergency in Ischia on Sunday, in order to quickly mobilize the means and funds for urgent interventions and the setting up of shelters.
More than 650 rescuers were sent to the southern island, located in the Bay of Naples, to help the victims of the landslidewhich also caused five injuries and left 230 inhabitants of the island on the street.
The geologist Aniello Di Iorio, a native of the island, when quoted this Monday by Il Corriere della Sera (the newspaper with the largest circulation in Italy), warned that the situation is still quite dangerous and that “A good part of the northern slope of the island is still at risk”including the affected commune of Casamicciola Terme.
For his part, the former mayor of that town, Giuseppe Conteassured: “I notified various administrations of the risk of landslides four days before the tragedy (…) I wrote to the prefect of Naples, to the city’s Civil Protection, but no one answered me,” lamented Conte, in statements to the same Milanese newspaper.
