Quake city papers over cracks for G8 summit

L'AQUILA - Silvio Berlusconi switched the location of the G8 summit to the city of L'Aquila as a way of focusing world attention on Italy's most disastrous earthquake for 30 years.

But as Hu Jintao, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, touched down in Rome yesterday, the first of 40 world leaders to arrive for the summit, residents were sceptical that the presence of so many grandees on their doorstop would do them much good.

More than 300 people died, 1500 were injured and 70,000 made homeless by the quake that struck three months ago. In the days that followed the disaster, Berlusconi took personal charge of the rescue effort, visiting the city and meeting survivors.

It was widely recognised that the first phase of the emergency - getting the victims housed in tents or seaside hotels, and fed and looked after - was handled brilliantly.

Even Berlusconi's celebrated remark to survivors that they should regard their spell on the coast as a camping holiday detracted little from the achievement.

Progress appears to have ground to a halt, with attention more focused on cosmetic makeovers for the arrival of Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, Nicolas Sarkozy and the rest, said Massimo Manieri, a spokesman for the Association for the Reconstruction of L'Aquila.

"The first phase of the emergency was great. But then the authorities made a massive mistake: instead of building temporary housing to get the homeless out of tents as fast as possible, they decided to skip that phase altogether and move to permanent housing immediately. But none of that has been built yet."

Manieri said that 15,000 people were still living in tents and another 30,000 in hotels and in other accommodation. Bureaucratic delays in getting building permits issued meant that work on reconstruction had barely begun. "The city's situation is frozen. Until people get into homes, even temporary ones, economic activity cannot begin."

The feverish preparation for the summit had removed attention, money and people from the reconstruction effort, he claimed.

The roads that the motorcades of United States President Obama and the other leaders will travel along to get to the Tax Police barracks where the summit is being held had all been renovated, "creating a great image of the city for the visitors. But it's all to do with creating an image."

"Last week they held a televised open-air concert in the central piazza of the old city for a carefully selected audience of 200, giving the impression that the centre was once again open to the public. But it's not true: none of the shops has reopened. There is a huge information gap between what people see on television and the reality."

The earth tremors intensified again this week. Italy's earthquake monitoring service said the chances of the city being struck by an even bigger quake had risen from 13 per cent in June to about 30 per cent.

If L'Aquila is struck by a quake of four or stronger, the event will be relocated to Rome - not to Palazzo Madama or another baroque palace, but to another police barracks, the Superior Police Institute.

- INDEPENDENT

DAUNTING AGENDA

ECONOMIC CRISIS
The leaders will take stock of efforts so far to revive their flagging economies, while continuing to co-ordinate responses to the crisis.

FINANCIAL REGULATION
The Italian Government is promoting rules and regulations to help prevent future crises.

CLIMATE CHANGE
Promote new technology for cleaner energy and goals on emissions and limiting temperature increases.

SECURITY ISSUES
Iran and North Korea top the agenda of security issues. On Iran, the leaders will focus on how to balance diplomacy with tougher action, and perhaps try to nudge member nations like Germany and Italy to back more sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme. The leaders meet days after North Korea fired seven balistic missiles into the ocean off its east coast in violation of three United Nations resolutions.

FOOD SECURITY
The leaders are expected to commit more than US$12 billion ($18 .8 billion) to agriculture development over the next three years.

WORLD RESERVE CURRENCY
China could raise the sensitive issue of a new world reserve currency, after its central bank recently proposed that the world move away from a reliance on the US dollar.

- AP