My friend, Jacob Srampical , a Jesuit priest, wrote this letter on Easter
Dear friend,
Easter days were sidelined here by the earthquake. On the 6th early morning the main quake took place.
In fact at 3.32 am that day I was already at my computer (a rare thing!) and instantly, being shook, I wrapped myself in a bed sheet and ran down from my fifth floor room, but seeing none of the 75 or so inhabitants in my house agitated, I went back only to listen half hour later on my radio, about the gravity and the centre of the quake. A number of quakes continued for several days and although 86 kms away we could sense the tremors very well in our rooms here in Rome. .
Statistics say about 308 died, 30 thousands (one third of those affected) evacuated and about 100 still in the hospitals.
The funeral of 205 people on Good Friday morning was a touching liturgical service, presided over by the Secretary of State, Salesian Cardinal Bertone.
Rai (Radiotelevisione Italia) did a great job of telecasting it with touching commentaries and well chosen visuals.
Later in the evening the traditional Way of the Cross presided by the Pope from the Collosseum was overshadowed again as Rai did an excellent programme called “The Calvary at L’Aquila” just before it. It was a pity that the Way of the Cross with text by Indian Archbishop Menamparampil and pictures from Indian artist Jyoti Sahi in spite of narrating all sufferings from India did not strike a chord, as it did not include, obviously, some images from L’Aquila. Perhaps that is why Rai called their programme “the Calvari at L’Aquila”.
In fact Rai’s religious programmes are top class (may be the best of their programmes, as a lot of others are entertainment based) and yet the Church here has 3 or 4 channels here all doing mundane work which hardly anyone watches, which make me wonder, whether the Church has understood at all what media are all about. (TV is a MASS medium, no?)
How does Italy cope with the earthquake?.
Earthquakes are nothing new here. Italy is much on the seismic range zone, as it lies on top of two geological fault lines, and the country had earthquakes as recently as 2001 and 1984. and many others in the past. And help comes in very fast from Europe and others parts of the world.
What struck me was every little village in the country is making a contribution, every association worth its name is planning schemes to raise funds. And many families are inviting evacuated families to come and live with them freely until their homes are rebuilt, which Premier Berlusconi (who was almost camping on site for days) says might be 2 years . In fact with one third of L’Aquila city and the rest of Abbruzzo region destroyed, 2 years is not a long time.
Houses will be rebuilt strong and sturdy but lost lives will ever remind them of the killer earthquake of April 6th,2009 for many years to come.
Easter days were sidelined here by the earthquake. On the 6th early morning the main quake took place.
In fact at 3.32 am that day I was already at my computer (a rare thing!) and instantly, being shook, I wrapped myself in a bed sheet and ran down from my fifth floor room, but seeing none of the 75 or so inhabitants in my house agitated, I went back only to listen half hour later on my radio, about the gravity and the centre of the quake. A number of quakes continued for several days and although 86 kms away we could sense the tremors very well in our rooms here in Rome. .
Statistics say about 308 died, 30 thousands (one third of those affected) evacuated and about 100 still in the hospitals.
The funeral of 205 people on Good Friday morning was a touching liturgical service, presided over by the Secretary of State, Salesian Cardinal Bertone.
Rai (Radiotelevisione Italia) did a great job of telecasting it with touching commentaries and well chosen visuals.
Later in the evening the traditional Way of the Cross presided by the Pope from the Collosseum was overshadowed again as Rai did an excellent programme called “The Calvary at L’Aquila” just before it. It was a pity that the Way of the Cross with text by Indian Archbishop Menamparampil and pictures from Indian artist Jyoti Sahi in spite of narrating all sufferings from India did not strike a chord, as it did not include, obviously, some images from L’Aquila. Perhaps that is why Rai called their programme “the Calvari at L’Aquila”.
In fact Rai’s religious programmes are top class (may be the best of their programmes, as a lot of others are entertainment based) and yet the Church here has 3 or 4 channels here all doing mundane work which hardly anyone watches, which make me wonder, whether the Church has understood at all what media are all about. (TV is a MASS medium, no?)
How does Italy cope with the earthquake?.
Earthquakes are nothing new here. Italy is much on the seismic range zone, as it lies on top of two geological fault lines, and the country had earthquakes as recently as 2001 and 1984. and many others in the past. And help comes in very fast from Europe and others parts of the world.
What struck me was every little village in the country is making a contribution, every association worth its name is planning schemes to raise funds. And many families are inviting evacuated families to come and live with them freely until their homes are rebuilt, which Premier Berlusconi (who was almost camping on site for days) says might be 2 years . In fact with one third of L’Aquila city and the rest of Abbruzzo region destroyed, 2 years is not a long time.
Houses will be rebuilt strong and sturdy but lost lives will ever remind them of the killer earthquake of April 6th,2009 for many years to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment