With brutal speed, the Abruzzo Earthquake has thrust the region into the world spotlight. Remember those who’ve died amidst the ruins of L’Aquila and the new homeless.

Where to begin ? Who’d have believed that the little judder of the bed we experienced shortly after 3am on Monday morning could have had such awful consequences a little over 100 kilometres away in Abruzzo’s regional capital L’Aquila ?

Being a brand-new build, Villasfor2 complies with the very latest anti-earthquake construction regulations. We were utterly unscathed. L’Aquila was considerably less fortunate.

It was harrowing to see the sights we’d described in our L’Aquila blog just last September smashed into ruin in the space of less than a minute. Even worse to see the utter destruction of lives and homes.

The Italian rescue services responded magnificently. Within hours, some seven thousand trained personnel were caring for the survivors, digging through ruins in search of people who’d been trapped and mounting a massive operation to provide shelter, food and care for the estimated 50,000 people who’d been made homeless.

As the news from Abruzzo spread, we were warmed by calls, SMS’s and e-mails from our families and friends – and as a former journalist and television presenter, I was being contacted too by media from around the world, keen not only for comment about the unfolding story in L’Aquila, but also for opinion on the effect the earthquake might have on Abruzzo tourism and Abruzzo holidays.

Good question – especially as Abruzzo will more than ever need the economic boost that tourism and holidays bring. There’s no doubt that Abruzzo tourism will be set-back in the short-term.

But think it through. Holidays to California and Mexico don’t suffer from being earthquake hotspots – and while I’ve heard of people rethinking holiday plans over concerns about local crime or health and hygeine, I’ve never heard of worries about forces of nature being reason enough to cancel a holiday.

Abruzzo holidays have enough positive factors going for them to outweigh any doubts.

A final point. In the aftermath of the Abruzzo earthquake, tourism and holidays will play an important part in the renaissance of the region in general and L’Aquila in particular. Right now, more immediate help is needed. Please help the wonderful Italian Red Cross help the survivors. Thanks.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 12:46 pm and is filed under About Abruzzo, Daily Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.