As regular readers of barganews are probably well aware, we have been reporting since December 2006 on what will probably be the largest bio engineering project ever undertaken in this area – the consolidation of the two sides of the Rio Fontanamaggio, the deep wooded ravine which separates Barga Vecchia from Barga Giardino, which risk sliding down and taking with it houses on both sides.
This project, costing over Euro 13 million, which was started under the Sereni era and has continued with the present Bonini administration, will on its completion present us with a Barga which will never be the quite the same again.
After the tragic events in Messina, Sicily this week, where 22 people were killed, 40 people are still missing and more than 500 people have been left homeless after torrential rain caused landslides with houses flattened and roads washed away by a torrent of rain and mud, the Italian media has started to put a spotlight on what could have been done to avoid this and other natural (and man made) disasters.
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This morning journalists from the Terra! weekly program on TG5 Mediaset were in Barga to find out first-hand just what it was that was being done right in this area to avoid and hopefully resolve some of these problems.
They flew over the Rio Fontanamaggio in a helicopter filming the work in progress by the Terra Uomini Ambiente co-operative who are shoring up one side the ravine and reinforcing the road that snakes around Barga Vecchia. They also took a short flight out to Sommocolonia for a view of the work shoring up some of the houses which risked sliding down into the valley during torrential rains in January of this year.
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Their next port of call was the school in Fornaci di Barga which has had extensive work recently to bring it up to earthquake standards including the complete demolition and rebuilding of the gymnasium.
During the day Marco Corrias interviewed the Mayor of Barga Marco Bonini, the Assessore alla Protezione Civile Pietro Onesti, the regional President of the Lega Ambiente, Pietro Baronti, the geologist Carlo Chines and the engineer Marco Ceccarelli.
The subsequent footage and interviews should be aired on TG5 thursday evening.
Click on the link below to hear the interview of Marco Corrias from the Terra! program on TG5 and the Mayor of Barga Marco Bonini recorded this morning (in Italiano)
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Dec 2006 – first press conference| October 2007 – work starts | November 2007 – second press conference | March 2008 – first project completed | May 2008 – third press conference