Govt cash begins to flow to ’quake zone

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34151, 12 May 1976, Page 23

Govt cash begins to flow to ’quake zone

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright) UDINE (Italy). May 11. Italy’s caretaker Government—criticised in the Left-wing press for its relief efforts after last week’s earthquake —is providing SNZ22Bm for the victims’ immediate needs.

Mr Mario Toros. Labour Minister in the ChristianDemocrat Cabinet, made it clear that this sum represented only the first instalment of Government help for the survivors of the earthquake in north-eastern Italy. As the official death toll reached 842, the caretaker Prime Minister (Mr Moro) made a television appeal that the handling of the relief effort should not become a political issue in the run-up

I to the Genera] /Election next I month. “Biased speculation and excessive criticisms (of the relief effort) contrast sharply with the gravity of the time through which the country is now living,” he said. Mr Toros said the first instalment of Government aid was intended to tackle the most immediate problems: rebuilding houses and industry in the stricken region. A Cabinet meeting within the next two days would decide precisely how it should be used, he said. The Communist Party daily, “L’Unita,” charged yesterday that relief organisation for the thousands of homeless was inadequate, and that officials were attempting to play down the crisis. Another Left-wing newspaper said that Bureaucratic delays were holding up the vaccination programme in the area. But journalists on

i the spot have reported only I admiration for the unflagging [accommodation for the I homeless, and the authorities' (doing their best to ensure that disease does not spread in the devastated villages. Eight local co-ordinating centres have now been set up to channel relief, each with a village mayor, policeman, fireman, army officer, health officer and a representative of the regional authority to assess how best to distribute supplies coming in from all over the world. Rain, heat, and the danger of poisonous snajses today confronted the earthquake survivors in dozens of makeshift tent towns. Health officials said the danger of epidemics in the hot and humid region had subsided, but. there were fears that poisonous snakes might be awakened from hibernation by the shaking [ground and hot weather.