QHow long is 59 seconds? So little that we don’t even notice the time passing. But on the evening of May 6, 1976 become infinite. An earthquake of magnitude 6.4, Orcolat, “the ogre” in the Friulian language, destroys entire houses and towns in Friuli, causing almost a thousand victims.
The tragedy becomes one of the first major Italian media eventsvolunteers come from all over the country but also from abroad to lend a hand. We know well how it ended: the “Friuli model” for reconstruction made historyallowing the vast majority of works to be back on their feet already 10 years after the earthquake.
But if the wounds of places seem healed, those of hearts are more difficult to heal. 50 years have passed since 1976, an entire life: that of Leo, the protagonist of The night the earth shook (Piemme editions/Il battello a vapore), or by the journalist of Corriere della Sera Greta Sclaunich.
Aldo Cazzullo (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
Leo is 12 years old and lives in Gemona with his family. His life was destroyed on the evening of May 6, when due to the earthquake he loses his home and his mother. It will take him years to recoverwith effort and commitment, the life as before.
“The night in which the earth trembled” by Greta Sclaunich (Piemme editions/The steamboat).
And one disappointment, however, he will carry with him for decades: that of not having been able, due to his age, to do anything to lend a hand after the earthquake. Until he decides to volunteer in the Civil Protection.
In 2016, in Amatrice, he is in the front row to help, just as he was helped many years earlier. The book is inspired by a true story and, through the earthquake, tells the importance of helping and returning the help received.
Houses destroyed by the Friuli earthquake of 6 May 1976
Half a century later, the most important lesson of the earthquake, according to the author, is contained in a black and white photo, where the writing stands out on a wall in front of the rubble “Friuli thanks and does not forget”. Stories like the one told in the book are proof of this.
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All articles by Aldo Cazzullo.