PRINCE CHARLES EMBRACES SURVIVORS OF ITALY QUAKE
AMATRICE: Britain’s Prince Charles hugged tearful survivors in the quake-hit Italian town of Amatrice yesterday after seeing the “terrifying devastation” inflicted by last year’s deadly disaster. The Prince of Wales walked alone in silent contemplation through parts of the abandoned “red zone” where collapsed houses lie next to the ruins of a 13th century Civic Tower in the historic hilltop town in central Italy.
“It’s a scene of terrifying devastation,” he said as he passed in front of the destroyed Church of Sant’Agostino, where the only signs of life were stray cats that roamed the gardens of buildings flattened by the August 2016 quake. Wearing a yellow protection helmet and a grey pinstriped suit, he met the town’s mayor Sergio Pirozzi, who told him he had not been back into the red zone since the quake “and will not until the town is rebuilt. We have to look to the future”.
“I wish I could do more for you, your resilience is amazing,” the 68-year-old prince told one local man after shaking the hands of first responders and those helping with the reconstruction after the disaster that killed nearly 300 people, including three Brits who were there on holiday. Charles, who arrived by helicopter due to quakedamaged roads, placed a garland of yellow and white flowers on a memorial in the park where survivors had slept in the days immediately following the quake. At the time, many of the survivors were still waiting for news of their trapped loved ones. “I told him I lost my husband that night, he was very moved, he embraced me,” Marina Torredi, 65, told AFP.
‘A hero’
“It was a hugely emotional moment. I introduced him to Agostino, a rescuer who pulled me from the rubble that night-he said he was a hero,” she said. Survivor Carmine Monteforte, 75, who had been waiting for a glimpse of the prince along with a group of locals waving Union Jack flags, said he also got a big hug from Charles. “It was a lovely gesture of human warmth, I teared up. His visit has certainly raised morale here,” he said.
The Amatrice visit was part of a European tour by the Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla designed to shore up relations with EU allies post Brexit. The charm offensive, which started in Romania and ends in Austria on Wednesday, comes just as Britain this week officially triggered the Brexit process. Charles’s son Prince William and his wife Kate undertook a similar trip to Paris earlier this month.