Berlusconi: earthquake victims should view experience as camping weekend
Italian prime minister causes outrage over quip made during interview following Italy's worst earthquake in three decades
Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is reported to have said the 17,000 people made homeless by Monday's earthquake should think of themselves as being on a "camping weekend". .
The website of the German television news channel N-TV said he had made the quip while being interviewed by one of its reporters on a visit to one of the emergency camps set up to take those who lost their homes in the disaster. But a video clip from the interview featured on the site did not contain the remark, which is bound to prompt intense controversy.
Berlusconi said they "lacked nothing. They have medicaments. They have hot food. They have shelter for the night," according to the video soundtrack.
His remarks, which seem to have been intended to reassure the public, scarcely correspond to the experiences of the homeless. Between Monday and Tuesday they had to endure a night of driving rain and hail in which the temperature fell to 4C (39F).
Yesterday, Berlusconi told a press conference in L'Aquila that 14,500 tents had been made ready and another 2,000 were available on standby. But tents were still lacking for 200 people by the time night fell.
Twenty "tent cities" have been set up to take the homeless. Other people driven out of their houses by the earthquake have been lodged in hotels and elsewhere.
Berlusconi has said he will appeal for special funding from the European Union to deal with the consequences of the disaster, which came as his debt-laden government was struggling to respond to the global economic crisis.
He also suggested that some of the cash earmarked for infrastructure projects designed to revive the economy could be spent in the L'Aquila area where the earthquake had its epicentre.
Rescuers continued searching for survivors this morning after a powerful aftershock brought two apartment blocks crashing down, causing panic among rescue workers and survivors of Monday's deadly earthquake.
Officials said today that the death toll from Italy's worst earthquake for more than 30 years now stood at 250, with 11 of the victims yet to be identified.
The first funeral of a victim is due to take place today, in the town of Loreto Aprutino, led by the archbishop of Pescara.
guardian.co.uk
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