Suspicion falls on poor construction

SHODDY, price-cutting renovations, in breach of local building regulations, could be partly to blame for the high death toll from last week’s devastating earthquake in central Italy, according to a prosecutor investigating the disaster.

As questions mount over the deaths of nearly 300 people, prosecutor Giuseppe Saieva indicated that property owners who commissioned suspected sub-standard work could be held responsible for contributing to the quake’s deadly impact.

Saieva, who works in the Rieti region between Rome and the quake’s epicentre, said the tragedy could not simply be filed away as an unavoidable natural disaster.

“If the buildings had been constructed as they are in Japan they wouldn’t have collapsed,” he told La Repubblica.

Within hours of the quake hitting on Wednesday, Saieva was in Amatrice, the small mountain town hit hardest by the quake.

He is inspecting the damage there before opening a preliminary investigation for possible culpable homicide and causing a disaster.

The crushed partition walls of a collapsed three-storey villa were among the sights that caught his eye.

“I can only think it was built on the cheap with more sand than cement,” he said.

Engineering and architectural experts have highlighted the widespread use of relatively cheap cement beams for house extensions and renovations as a possible factor in why so many buildings collapsed.

“If it emerges that individuals cut corners, they will be pursued and those that have made mistakes will pay a price,” he said. – AFP