Snowfall and power outages in Italy’s temporary housing SAE: “Ruthless and inhumane environment”

Hello. Some of my friends live in temporary housing called SAE. SAE can be translated as Soluzione abitativa in emergenza, it can be translated to “emergency housing solution”. This is the name of the temporary housing for the 2016 Central Italy Earthquake. Another name is used for other earthquakes, but I will omit it for this time.

There are many problems with SAE, but the most important one is the power outage in winter. The area where SAE is located, that is, the area affected by the 2016 earthquake, snows so much in winter, which causes power outages. Obviously, a power outage would bring the room temperature below freezing, under zero, and you would have to spend the night without lights or warmth. SAE is just a ruthless and inhuman environment. There are many elderly people living in SAE, but they do not have people to rely on in other areas, they cannot go to hospitals, and above all, they are forced to live unhealthy lives. Also, if you are placed in a vulnerable environment such as a pregnant woman, the arrival of an ambulance will be delayed because there is no hospital nearby, which can be literally fatal.

My friend Silvia lives in Mapre, a house that was built faster (that is, more vulnerable and fragile) than SAE, but there are frequent power outages, and in the worst case, about 17 hours. It seems that there may be a power outage. In Japan’s temporary housing, power outages cannot occur for such a long period of time and frequently. It seems to me that the government is indifferent to the victims. In fact, the then Prime Minister (Matteo Renzi) left behind the phrase “don’t leave you alone” (non vi lasciamo soli), but it’s easy to see if that phrase is true or false.

As Giulia Scandolara, a journalist covering the disaster area, said, this issue is a serious issue for the dignity, humanity and even human rights of all victims. However, it does not seem to be taken up with much interest in areas other than the disaster area. I’m not in Italy right now, so I can’t tell if it was featured in the news across Italy, but at least it’s the local newspapers that report the news that the SAE has gone out of power. For this reason, I sometimes hear people say, “Isn’t it reconstructed?”, And even more so, such information is not distributed to foreigners. This is one of the reasons I keep writing blogs. Italy often deals with refugee news, and while many pay close attention to their human rights, little is known about the Italians themselves. I don’t want to say that “Italians are more important than refugees,” and in fact the party that says it is an exclusive party with anti-immigration policies. But I wonder if Italy can be so ruthless to the Italians themselves.