Norcia, a central Italian town located in the worst-hit area of the 6.2-magnitude earthquake which struck on Aug 24, has endured the smallest loss without any death tolls thanks to a housing reinforcement project put in place decades ago.
The town is located just 16 kilometers away from the epicenter, however, it endured the smallest amount of damages compared with the other two neighboring towns. The miracle has to be attributed to a government-backed project for reinforcing local residents’ houses after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake in 1979, according to the locals.
"The earthquake was every strong, I will never forget it in my entire life. The tremor lasted for quite a while, it was like it would never stop. Many things were falling down on the floor but my house was not damaged. We remodeled the house after the earthquake in 1979, we reinforced the house with anti-earthquake designs. Luckily we have not suffered any fatalities, unlike what happed in Amatrice and Accumoli," said a local resident named Cristina.
Local residents said that the remodeling of each house would cost something between 150 and 330 U.S. dollars per square meter, which could be unaffordable for many local families if it was not for aid from the local government.
"Obviously it was very expensive to reinforce the houses, so it’s reasonable for the government to provide a subsidy for the project. The government gave about 40 to 50 percent of the expenses, and the residents had to take care of the rest," said Milla Menza, a local resident.
The few houses that had been damaged in the earthquake are those that hadn’t been reinforced, since their owners thought it was unnecessary.
"The families that endured the most damage are those who thought it was unnecessary to reinforce their houses. If the project did not take place in Norcia, then we would probably be in the same situation like the people in Amatrice now," said Marianna, the owner of a local cafeteria.
Amatrice, a neighboring historical town, saw most of its traditional buildings turned into rubble during the earthquake.
