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.
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