I can say it out loud after a week spent at Campo Globo as volunteer of the civil protection and member of ANA of Como.
Campo Globo was one of the 170 tent camps built for the earthquake emergency in Abruzzo and took its name from the nearby store in the Coppito zone.
Once there I worked at the camp office, the place where the Alpini managed the camp and thus where I could see both positive and negative sides of the situation.
Together with three volunteers of La Spezia’s ANA, Enrico, Attilio and camp-chief Alberto, we worked all day long from August 29th to September 5th, trying to respond to all the requests coming from the 930 residents and from Italian Navy and Army officers who excellently managed the two camp kitchens.
The human side of the experience has been the most important one: talking to people from L’Aquila and listening to their unfortunate stories and wishes to start over gave a precise meaning to the feeling of solidarity that made me leave for Abruzzo.
However, being able to see the ruins of the city center left a sense of sadness deep inside me. It wasn’t as watching them in photos or on TV at all: it will really take a lot of time for the reconstruction..
The photos of my personal gallery have been mostly shot at the camp, since you can find those with the ruins pretty anywhere and they do not really deliver the actual dimension of the destruction of the buildings.
My best wishes to all the people I met during that week: the Scuola del Genio and San Marco officers, the great Alpini, and the camp residents with a soul stronger than any earthquake!
As San Marco officers wrote on the sail in the picture: The lion wants it, L’Aquila in his heart.