'Expo prefabricated houses for homeless'

(ANSA) - Rieti, September 7 - Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni on Wednesday said prefabricated houses used during Milan's Universal Exposition last year will be made available for mountain village populations in central Italy left homeless by a 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck on August 24.
    Maroni, who was in the Lazio city of Rieti for a meeting with new earthquake reconstruction commissioner Vasco Errani and civil protection chief Fabrizio Curcio, said his region will "act quickly" after the civil protection defines over the next few days what is most needed in terms of housing, schools and other structures for local communities. The governor has offered 16 prefabricated three-floor homes used by workers who built the pavilions of Milan's Universal Exposition, which took place on May1-October 31 last year.
    The prefabricated buildings, which are still in the Milan area of Rho, can house up to 650 people.
    Maroni said his region was cooperating with civil protection personnel to evaluate whether the temporary homes were suitable, as well as other forms of cooperation to provide aid and relief to those affected by the quake.
    The quake in central Italy has so far claimed the lives of 295 people and caused millions in damages in several mountain towns in the Lazio, Marche, and Umbria regions.
    Over 2,600 people have been left homeless and are living in camps.