Mattarella marks 30th anniversary of Alessandria floods

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 26 - President Sergio Mattarella on Tuesday marked the 30th anniversary of the November 1994 floods in Alessandria that killed 68 people and left over 5,000 homeless, saying that Italy does not give up when f aced with tragedies.
    "In tragedies, the Republic has always been able to be present, with the police forces, the firefighters, the armed forces, the Civil Protection - born precisely from the pressure of the emergency - the system of local autonomies, the energies of civil society. Italy does not give up," he said.
    Adverse natural phenomena see the army of Mayors on the front line, that precious network of voluntary associations: the "mud angels" as they have been defined".
    'Mud angel' was first coined for the countless young Italian and foreign volunteers that helped clean up after disastrous floods in Florence in 1966 which left 101 people dead and also damaged or destroyed millions of masterpieces of art and rare books.
    (ANSA).