Santomenna, the story of the boy trapped under the rubble
Tuesday, November 23, 2010 0:29
Sebastian Materazzi 19 years and is currently serving military, like many young men of his age. The November 23, 1980 is on leave that day his life, and that of thousands of others, will change forever.
Materazzo is at Eboli, the bench waiting for a pizza place to eat: the terrifying shock of a sudden. Here is his memory of those terrible seconds: "I was able to gain the door, which looked into the alley, where, in the run, I do not know how I found myself on the ground, got up and managed to reach a small square between a shower of tiles, bricks and rubble. "
After trying in vain to contact their parents from the barracks Persano, Sebastian is summoned by the Colonel, and about 4 am Santomenna reaches, along with other 24 or 25 fellow soldiers, to bring relief.
"All'inizio non fummo accettati particolarmente bene - racconta Materazzo - Eravamo molto disorganizzati. Non avevamo guanti o torce, solo il casco di metallo; l'elmetto era il nostro unico riparo e ci siamo trovati impreparati davanti a quello scenario devastante. E' stato molto difficile: quello di cui ci accorgemmo fu che non potevamo fare molto; c'erano lavori straordinari ai quali noi non eravamo proprio preparati, né psicologicamente, né come attrezzature, né come tecnica".
Un lavoro incessante, quello dei soccorritori, che dovettero affrontare l'emergenza senza avere i mezzi necessari. "Non è andato tutto bene, purtroppo, nel senso che avremmo potuto fare di più avendo i mezzi, e questo us that we were to denounce him. There were survivors who invited us to dig for their family under the rubble, they were trapped in homes with wall pieces whole again. "
One incident in particular still marks the memories of Sebastian, that of a boy trapped under the rubble, which is then lost all trace. "What shook me a long time - said Sebastian - but did not finish them, we have been present in the territory for other months, but there was much confusion I would like to know if this guy is alive and how he lived.
I would like to know this guy, you know even the boys who participated in this endeavor. Ho scoperto che c'è un articolo di un giornale dell'epoca che parla anche della nostra vicenda, perché Santomenna rimase isolato due o tre giorni. La prima informazione che ci arrivò subito è che era crollato un ponticello dietro di noi, ma non so quanto possa essere attendibile".
Dopo quattro giorni di ricerche e di aiuti, i militari rientrarono in caserma, per il riposo, prima di essere nuovamente indirizzati. "Dopo quattro giorni sono rientrato in caserma e dopo altri due giorni di riposo siamo partiti di nuovo: io sono andato a Laviano, successivamente ci hanno portati di nuovo a Santomenna e ci siamo un po' alternarti sul territorio. Fu molto triste, in alcuni momenti di sconforto piangemmo".
Ma poi il ricordo back to that kid, "Unfortunately I can not remember his name, I know only why he was in the alley at that time: he explained that his father had sent him to buy cigarettes, while he was in the alley collapsed around him. I also remember that when we extract this guy had a strong leg stiffness for the position he had held, were a bit 'disjointed: then damage to the pelvis or thigh surely must have been, this could be an element of recognition. "
Where is now this kid, he managed to survive the wounds? It 'never come back to Santomenna? "Often, many injured pulled alive died upon arrival at the hospital - says Sebastian - Because they had a drug to support the movement, so it may be dead. In the article I found on Santomenna, journalist speaks of two cases of boys of the Calabrese family, who stayed with 5 elements, ie mother, father and three children, whereas before they were 9. The boy who could be seeking one of those four. "
30 years have passed, but the memory of the earthquake survivors in the community and Santomenna is alive, now as then, and is manifested through a blog,
http:/ / www.smennaterr80.blogspot.com/ where Andrea Calandra, national Santomenna, decided to continue the memory of his country, territory, and the testimonies of those who that was November 23, 1980.
Andrea Salandra no longer lives in Santomenna, but continues to feel a sense of deep attachment to his homeland. His blog is not just a point of reference for all those who, like him, information, photos, newspaper clippings or testimonials to share, but also "a great chance to be united at this particular time, especially for young people.
me I do not take it with nature, indeed. First of all we need prevention, although in the case of the earthquake is difficult. We should take preventive action, for example, in schools, teaching that nature must be respected: with us it was particularly stepmother, because she was a small area the country and almost all are dead.
Our Santomenna was seismic - says Andrea - The part of town at the base had a different behavior than the top, where there were rocks. The result is that half the country has been destroyed and half did not: this shows the importance of prevention and man in this respect has to be careful. I say it, even from the North, in Verona, which today is facing the problem of flooding. You thought they were untouchable and instead were sadly affected, which means that the wrong man in the North and South, so do not mess with nature. "
Just 30 years later, the use of the Internet and new technologies allows you to reach everyone, especially the young. "Now even young people have responded and they felt involved, in a month and a half we had on the blog about 6 thousand contacts, especially from abroad, it is also right that kids are aware of the drama that thirty years ago we lived, hoping will not happen again. "
Reflections
important, daughters of a memory that always exist in the population and Luke Bell, and that in its exalted tragedy, in the case of Salandra, his deep bond with Santomenna, including Thirty years later.
"It 's a delicate moment and remember: I've been away, but despite that I was connected to my community. Unfortunately I lost my parents in the tragic earthquake and my family. Mine is also a social commitment: we must also think about these things. I appeal, in fact, citizens of Santomenna: send aid to flood victims in the Veneto region, which were close in the days of the tragic earthquake that hit us. "
Monica Merola
REPUBLIC OF ARTICLE
reportage / 4 - Santomenna
Hundreds of dead and wounded in quell'ingorgo trap. Today, the highway runs
Eduardo Scotti
Buccino, Valva, Theory Calabritto, Laviano Castelnuovo di Conza common that became famous in the world
There was no Fondo Valle Sele. The artery runs on bold concrete piers and connecting the Salerno-Reggio Calabria, from the junction of Contursi to Avellino. Less than thirty kilometers reciting the names of the countries land swallowed up by November 23, 1980. The chronicles of the earthquake victims and three thousand eighty seconds made famous in the world Buccino, Valva, Theory, Colliano, Oliveto Citra, Laviano, Castelnuovo di Conza, Calabritto, Lyon and the tiny Santomenna. The expressway, to Avellino, follow in a matter of minutes. But in the hours that followed the 19.34 of the powerful earthquake of a horrible Sunday, easily the four-lane stretch of asphalt that connects the side of the Valle del Sele Salerno Irpinia, unfortunately did not exist. Not even in the most futuristic projects. To reach the hospital in Battipaglia, the only equipped for the emergency, hundreds and hundreds of cars of engine capacity of poor farmers and dented vans, loaded with wounded and dead bodies, they spent the whole hour and a half needed to overcome bumps and curves rough in a traffic jam ever seen before in these parts. Precious minutes that proved fatal for many.
Cross now the whole valley of the Sele to well over a hundred miles an hour fifteen minutes, a strange effect. You see that on queste terre sono calati i 50.620 miliardi della ricostruzione. Sufficienti per la superstrada, troppo abbondanti per le tante industrie solo promesse. E mai viste.
I casolari di campagna dai colori confetto, rosso mattone, giallo ocra, terra di Siena, sono tutti costruiti dagli anni Ottanta in qui. Le masserie riattate, che resistettero alla scossa, luccicano ancora di intonaco fresco su abbondanti getti di cemento di rinforzo. Gli iscritti all'Ordine provinciale dei geometri con studio nell'area del cratere, negli anni Ottanta e Novanta sono aumentati del 43 per cento. I muri neri di muschio degli antichi casali non esistono più e gli edifici dei paesi-presepe sono disposti a schiera come alloggi militari. Chi la ricorda prima del sisma questa valle non può regret that the tiny and quaint villages of stone.
the sun in the square before the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, in Santomenna, Giacomo Di Geronimo confirms: "The earthquake has mounted the head several. They had no bathroom in the house and now have homes or apartments with double and triple service ". He emigrated in 1960 seeking fortune in Switzerland, France and Germany. The good fortune we passed by, in Venezuela, putting up a small shoe factory. But in April 1980, after twenty years of wandering, he returned to his country, Santomenna, where his father was proprietor of the bar in the square. And he returned with his wife and two children a few years. In time for stringerseli under the arch of the front door the night of November 23, la sera della partita più attesa in tv, Inter-Juventus, quando un boato che durò un tempo senza tempo squassò la terra. Fuori si sentirono crollare muri e squarciarsi strade. I morti? 64 su mille abitanti. "Come dire, 6400 in una città di centomila persone", ci aiuta a capire meglio Gerardo D'Elia, il vigile comunale.
Il paese si arrampica come allora sulla collina, un serpente di cemento che ha rubato alla cima circa quattrocento metri in edifici di edilizia economica e popolare, la stessa distanza che ha perso a valle dove case e palazzi furono divorati. Delle tonnellate di macerie accatastate per anni esiste traccia solo nei ricordi di chi was. to perpetuate the memory of 23 November Santomenna is a combative retired headmaster, Andrew Salandra. Lives since 1973 - at the time was professor of mathematics - in Verona Mayor Flavio Tosi League, District Council and there is opposition, former Democratic faithful. In the cemetery of the village are buried Salerno Pasquale Papa and Mama Rosa, surprised by the earthquake at home. "Living in Feet of Earth, the downstream area of \u200b\u200bthe country completely engulfed," said Salandra. The professor was able to get as much support and aid money from the population and Verona schools "but thirty years ago. Today would not be so." Damn Bossi. Salandra has built a very crowded website (smennaterr80. blogspot. com), which collected video, testimonies and documents of the period of its earthquake.
Today, the thousand inhabitants of Santomenna have been left more or less five hundred. "Emigration has been strong - says Mayor Gerardo Venutolo - but it is false because in 1983 it took the city's poorest Italy. With so many ruins and a subsistence economy, work the land to get food. Without a natural ability to create income tax from the files that were declared a few dollars. But no one here has ever been in misery. " The mayor, moderately close to the Democratic Party, now claims: "With twenty jobs for our young stars tutti bene". Giuseppe Calabrese, uno di loro, fa l'assessore. Qualcuno rimpiange De Mita. "È sempre lui a guidare le danze da queste parti".
Ogni 11 novembre il parroco, don Peppino Zarra, chiama a raccolta i fedeli per la messa in onore del patrono, Santo Menna, soldato egiziano convertito al cristianesimo. E tutti accorrono disciplinatamente. Ma è il 2 di luglio, la Madonna delle Grazie, la festa per cui gli emigrati rientrano da ogni continente, qualcuno con la speranza di non ripartire. "Qui una casa di 100 metri quadri con garage si compra con trentamila euro", spiegano "Al Convento", l'unico ristorante che dà lavoro a quattro-cinque ragazzi.
Niente criminalità, auto e appartamenti si lasciano aperti, droga zero e trionfo della tolleranza: porte aperte ai forestieri. Il 7 agosto scorso in piazza si sono celebrate le nozze tra un giovane di religione musulmana, di madre originaria di Santomenna, e una ragazza ebrea. "Più ospitali e multirazziali di così...", commenta Venutolo.
Come in quasi tutti i Comuni del cratere il centro ha vicoli puliti dai portoni piccoli e a volta, con capitelli improbabili e pretenziosi, attorno a cui sono stati ricostruiti palazzotti dalle finestre e dai balconi vezzosi, minuscoli. Alla famiglia più aristocratica della comunità, i Figurelli, è legata la signora Caterina, consorte del costituzionalista Francesco Paolo Casavola. "Hanno fatto molto per il paese e ancora vengono di tanto in tanto a trovarci", precisa il sindaco Venutolo come a mostrare il vestito buono..
