Civil Protection Minister Nello
Musumeci said Monday that the government will appoint a special
commissioner for the Campi Flegrei area near Naples to take care
of risk-prevention measures amid alarm about a wave of seismic
activity in the volcanic caldera.
The Campi Flegrei area, also known the Phlegrean Fields in
English, is currently being affected by bradyseism, or ground
uplift, and there have been a series of earthquakes there in
recent months.
"The management of the interventions for the Campi Flegrei
cannot be entrusted to the (Campania) regional government, the
(local) municipalities or the department, they will be entrusted
to an extraordinary commissioner who will be appointed by
decree, upon a proposal of mine, within 15 days," Musumeci said
after a cabinet meeting.
The minister complained about how urban development had been
allowed in the area.
"The government is giving more than its due on the Phlegraean
Fields, one of the most dangerous and complex volcanoes in the
world," he said.
"Extremely serious responsibilities are emerging, both distant
and less distant ones, involving all bodies, starting with the
regional government and the municipalities concerned - Naples,
Pozzuoli and Bacoli.
"Unreasonable, chaotic and haphazard urban development was
authorized, and the impending dangers in the area were never
taken into account.
"Those who were supposed to supervise did not do so".
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