Messina floods landslides mudslide Sicily

Arriving in Trapani airport last night, the reality of the Messina floods hit home. Even on the west side of the island of Sicily there have been mud slides and many of the roads blocked by mud and landslides.

Messina is in the north east of Sicily on the Ionian coast and recently in the news for the approval of the project to build the Strait of Messina bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world, connecting Sicily to mainland Italy across the Messina strait from Reggio Calabria.

Torrential rain hit Sicily on Thursday 1^st October and overnight Messina floods. Apparently over 200cm of water fell within an hour creating devastating flash floods and mudslides.

The worst hit towns were were Giampilieri Superiore, 10km south of Messina, Scaletta Zanclea and Briga  Superiore.

The Italian state declared a state of emergency. This is the worst landslide disaster in Italy since 1998 in Naples.

24 dead of which the following 20 identified : Martino Scibilia, di 86 anni; Concetta Cannistraci, di 71; Monica Barascia, di 48; Carmelina Maria Barbera, di 81; Santina Porcino, di 33; Carmela Oliveri, di 47; Roberto Carullo, di 50; Onofrio Sturiale, di 26; Agnese Falgetano, di 44; Maria Letizia Scionti, di 26; Elena De Luca, di 75; Cristian Maugeri, di 22; Letterio Maugeri, di 23; Letterio Laganà, di 72; Teresa Macina, di 40; Francesco De Luca, di 74; Salvatore Scionti, di 64; Pasquale Neri, di 30; Giuseppe Tonante, di 76.

I have witnessed these Sicilian storms. The conflict of hot air coming from Africa and the cool air travelling south from the Italian Alps creates a metrological condition similar to a tropical cyclone.

Flooding was also reported in Palermo, Milazzo and Catania.

If you own an italian property in Sicily or on holiday in sicily or looking to buy a house in sicliy and flying into Catania Airport take note that local roads travelling north like the E45 or the statale 114 are still blocked. Keep to the autostrada A18 which is reported as clear today.

I trying to find out if a relief fund for the Messina Floods has been set up for donations…ok found them…there are 2…personally i’d go with option 2

1: Donate to Catania Council

Bank name : Banca di Sicilia

account name : “Vittime alluvione in Sicilia” …..translates as “Sicilian storm victims”

IBAN : IT54R0102004600000350350350

2 Donate to Messina Council(announced by the town of Reggio Calabria)

account name : “Comune di Messina – Servizio Tesoreria”

reference : “pro-alluvionati”

IBAN : IT 91Y0102016598000300034781

Read more here

2009 Messina floods and mudslides

If you can read this then my links are back up and working after a worm attack on this wordpress blog. Readers aren’t affected !!

Not much to do with Italian Property but for all you bloggers out there using WordPress Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Bongiorno dies.

Mike Bongiorno well known Italian television presenter and quiz master who made quiz shows popular in Italy in the 1950s and 1960s  has died aged 85.

Born in New York to an Italian mother and an Italian-American father, Bongiorno moved to Italy when still a child and became an institution in the Italian broadcasting scene.

He was one of the first high profile presenters to defect from Rai to privately-owned Canale 5 and continued to present programmes well into old age.

Among his best known programmes were Lascia o raddoppia.

Many will remember him for his trademark Allegria! at the start of his shows.

Sky Italia said Tuesday that Bongiorno died suddenly of a heart attack in Monte Carlo. Bongiorno was working on a show for Sky.

The ANSA news agency said Bongiorno died from a heart attack. It quoted Premier Silvio Berlusconi as saying Italy had lost a great TV personality and he had lost a friend.

Nicknamed “The Quiz King,” Bongiorno was of American origin but made his name in Italy. He was one of Italy’s most enduring and beloved television personalities.

In the 1950s and 1960s, he popularized quiz shows through a series of successful programs on state-run RAI. Bongiorno was also the host of countless other shows, including a popular annual song fest in San Remo.

Watch this video of Vittorio Sgarbi and Mike Bongiorno.

Post your respects on Facebook Mike Bongiorno

Petrol Strike Italy 08/11/2011 – 11/11/2011 : Car hire Italy : Italy petrol station

Update Nov 2011 : another petrol strike in Italy from today 8/11/11 from 19:30 till 11/11/11 at 07:00 if you are travel in Italy and have a car hire italy then plan holiday italy accordingly.

Holiday in Italy this week. Hired a car ? Please note that there is a national 2 day petrol strike in Italy this Wednesday 8^th July and Thursday 9th July, which means that as from Tuesday 7^th evening 19:30 till Thursday evening same time you cannot get petrol.

In Sicily the Italian petrol strike is for 3 days as it starts Read the rest of this entry »

Mourinho Inter till 2012

Inter…FC Internazionale Milano have officially announced that Mourinho will extend his current contract for a further year and will stay till 30th June 2012. Offical news at Inter Italian website.

Fiat General Motors (GM) Europe, UK Vauxhall, Opel.

First Fiat last week announced the takeover at Chrysler….Now in a dramatic weekend of negotiations yesterday the Fiat (Italy) chairman Luca Corderodi di Montezemolo announced that Fiat is in negotiations with General Motors (Europe) the owners of Opel (Germany) and Vauxhall (UK) and Saab (Sweden) with the intentions Read the rest of this entry »

Berlusconi Divorce

Italian president Silvio Berlusconi’s wife, Veronica Lario, has filed for divorce.

Notice how the media deal with this divorce differently to any other world leader’s personal relationships. Amazingly Italian private affairs colourful as they are don’t damage a politicians career, unlike in many other countries.

Berlusconi known to have a soft spot for young attractive women, and even promoting models into his ministerial cabinet, like Mara Carfagna, a former topless model who is now his Minister for Equal Opportunities, may have gone too far recently when he was spotted attending an 18 year girls birthday party, whom referred to him as dad. Whether it is one of his many illegitimate daughters or a lover was unclear.

Married since 1990 Berlusconi’s wife , Lario, whoms real name is Miriam Raffaella Bartolini, was recently drawn into a political scandel critising her husbands choice of female candidates for the european elections for Berlusconi’s political  party the People of Freedom.

Fiat Chrysler

Who saved who? The partnership with Fiat will create the world’s sixth largest carmaker.

Fiat 2 years ago recovered from near bankruptcy. Chrysler first $10Bn, then $500M and they are still running out of petrol.

Who will take the steering wheel?

Fiat small economy cars. Chrysler diesel guzzlers. Where is the synergy ? Is this an American sell out or an Italian bravado? OK the Fiat Alfa Romeo line may potentially reach the USA market, but can you see an american familysitting in the Fiat 500 ?

Fiat will take an initial 20% Read the rest of this entry »

Earthquake Abruzzo Aquila Italy Emergency Helpline numbers :

Eartquake Italy Abruzzo Aquila International donation details

Rome 21:15pm 8th April 2009

I’ve managed to get contact details to where you can send a request to find out if your loved ones are still with us.

The Italian Protezione Civile have a list of identified persons who have died in the earthquake.

They also have a database of people whom have self declared that they are alive.

If your relatives have not declared they are alive nor or on the list of mortalities then there is the highly unprobable possibility that they are 1 of the 15 mortalities still not identified. (latest total deaths 272)

When you contact the Italian Civil Protection you must provide

• your name
• your contact details ; address/telephone or email
• the fullname of the person you are looking for
• the address where the person you are looking for lived.

You can call directly the Italian Civil Protection on 0039 0862 361255  They do speak a little english, but for communication reasons it may be better that you email them with the same above details to

international@protezionecivile.it

Please be patient for a reply. They guarantee that they will reply to everyone.

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HELP others find this important information quickly : bookmark this blog, email your friends, tell your local press or favourite blog or add a link to this blog in your website or blog.

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Earthquake Italy Aquila Abruzzo Italian Terremoto

Read personal moving stories and detailed village damage in the comments of another blog posting here

BREAKING NEWS: L’Aquila 7th April 2009 19:45

Another earthquake 5.7 Richter

LATEST NEWS: Rome: 7^th April 2009 11:30am

· E  Earthquake strikes again : 11:20am local time today Tuesday another strong earthquake brings back panic as the earth continues to tremor.

Subscribe to this blogs feed to receive the latest news and updates and if the content of this blog is useful social bookmark it or link to it with the keywords “Earthquake Italy Abruzzo Aquila”. It will help others to find this blog quicker.

EARTHQUAKE ITALY AQUILA ABRUZZO HELPLINE:

If you are looking for information on family or friends whom you may believe have been lost in the Abruzzo Earthquake in Italy then the best contact is the Abruzzo Civil Protection which can be reached on +39 800 861016 or +39 800 860146.(the repeated single ring tone means engaged) Their head office can be reached on +39 06 68201 (there is a long waiting queue.)

Abruzzo Earthquake in Aquila Italy Update:

Aquila one day after the Earthquake Abruzzo (click to read and view comments with very moving stories and detailed information about specific village damage) central Italy is coming to terms with the shocking volume of mortalities and casualties.

• · 228 deaths just announced by the Italian president SIlvio Berlusconi.
• · 15 missing
• · 1500 injured, many transferred to Rome hospitals
• · 17,000 people didn’t sleep in their Italian house last night and atayed in local hotels in Adriatic coast or in local Italian B&B, temporary campsites and even in the Aquila rugby stadium emergency camp. If you have friends in Aquila who need a place to sleep tell them to call the Italian “numero verde” green number helpline on 800-861-016 and they will be advised where to go and sleep and get some hot food and water.

Earthquake Aquila discussion : (post your thoughts)

How and why was this earthquake not foreseen ? As in many other parts of the world.

In California “The Big One” is planned for with emergency strategies already in place.

This whole affair makes Italy appear like a third world country. Communication to families and friends is very limited. International announcements don’t exist. If this had happened anywhere else in the world there would be an official “Earthquake Fund”, government t funds would have been allocated exclusively to the tragedy, a website with official information would exist. Instead in true Italian style its organised mayhem.

Everyone is pulling together and doing their best, and thanks to them. Berlusconi famous for his international gaffs has even officially announced “Italy has its own funds to allocate to this tragedy, we don’t need international funds we can do it alone”, what is he on about ? Everyone wants to help, organise international aid straight away and get things sorted asap. His answer is to allocate 30million Euros, does he really think that rebuild the houses, the economy, the moral ???

Unfortunately there is always the horrible side to these disasters as people have been reported looting the abandoned houses.

Earthquake Italy Official news.

Still there is no Italy earthquake official website with accurate information and instructions about how to find out if loved ones are amongst the dead. When this is announced I will post that here. Meanwhile try the numbers at the top for the helpline though they are very busy.

Earthquake Abruzzo Italy official donations.

Charities and websites are popping up from everywhere organising Italian earthquake donation funds. Please be aware of the scams.

Here is a list of some of the official Abruzzo earthquake donation methods either on line or over the phone.

Local Italians are helping by offering accommodation to the homeless, blood donations, food offers and general assistance.

If you own a house in Italy, Abruzzo you can offer you beds to the homeless by calling +39 0854-308-309

Considering your distance the best help you can offer is to make a donation to Italian Earthquake.

In America you can donate directly through the “National Italian American Foundation” at NIAF.

Or donate directly to various Italian Charities :

CARITAS :

IBAN: IT13R0306905032000009188568

Account name : Caritas Italiana

Reference : “Terremoto Abruzzo

Italian Red Cross :

IBAN : IT66 – C010 0503 3820 0000 0218020

Bank : Banca Nazionale di Lavoro (BNL)

Reference “Pro terremoto Abruzzo”or online at

: www.cri.it/donazioni.html

Abruzzo Regional council:

IBAN : IT69L0300215300000410000000

Bank : Unicredit Banca di Roma

Reference : Regione Abruzzo – donazione per il sisma (translated means Abruzzo regional council – donations for earthquake)