Govt to appoint special commissioner for Campi Flegrei

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 24 - 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". (ANSA).