Cyclone Harry, which violently struck Sicily, Calabria, and Sardinia, was exceptionally powerful and lasted beyond control. In Sicily alone, it is estimated that the catastrophe caused at least one billion euros in damage. Harry devastated large areas of the provinces of Syracuse, Catania, Messina, Agrigento, and Palermo. The damage was certainly caused by an extreme weather event, but it was exacerbated by the lack of a policy to address the fragility of the Sicilian territory, threatened by hydrogeological instability and undermined by illegal construction, exploitation, and land devastation.
Catania was the province hardest hit by Cyclone Harry, but the Messina and Syracuse areas fared little better. Port infrastructure, fishing and pleasure boats, roads, railways, beach resorts, commercial businesses, and private homes were severely damaged. Not only did eastern Sicily suffer the severe consequences of the cyclone's passage, but the province of Palermo also paid the price, especially fishermen who lost their boats due to the extremely strong storm surges in notoriously unsafe ports.
The disaster resulting from this exceptional weather event once again demonstrates the fragility of the Sicilian territory, completely unprepared due to inadequate infrastructure, non-existent maintenance, and a lack of territorial governance.
Although the Sicilian Regional Government has declared a "state of natural disaster," considering Cyclone Harry "an unprecedented event," "the most violent in recent years," the Meloni Government persists in freezing, in the Budget, EUR14 billion for the useless, dangerous, and devastating Strait of Messina Bridge project, a striking symbol of the criminal devastation of the territory and of capitalist mafia speculation.
Once again, faced with environmental disaster (as already seen in Belice, L'Aquila, Amatrice, Romagna, etc.), the hungry wolves are ready to pounce on the greedy loot. They are rushing forward in packs to manage and seize the funds that should be allocated for the reconstruction and safety of the Sicilian territory. The possibility of a special commissioner appointed by the national government to manage the reconstruction is gaining traction: "a Bertolaso II."
While resources for hydrogeological instability (billions allocated over the years) are not being spent due to governance issues, there have even been those within the majority who have recklessly gone so far as to propose a building amnesty near the coast.
It is clear that those in government have failed to grasp the extraordinary significance of what has happened. This is not an ordinary episode, nor a storm surge "like so many others."
We're talking about dozens, hundreds of kilometers of devastated coastline, with roads, seafronts, utilities, and infrastructure destroyed or severely damaged.
Uncontrolled human development along the coast, combined with illegal construction and speculation, has led to poorly constructed buildings in many areas, too close to the sea, sometimes even on the sand. This adds to the exceptional nature of the event, undoubtedly due to the growing climate change that is transforming the Mediterranean into a tropical sea, with previously nonexistent phenomena such as tornadoes and powerful hurricanes. Cyclone Harry, in addition to wiping out structures recklessly constructed just meters from the sea, in defiance of any land protection measures, destroyed roads, homes, and public works that had existed for fifty, seventy, even a hundred years-structures that had withstood decades of storms, storm surges, and harsh winters without ever suffering such damage. Places that were neither "temporary" nor improvised, and which today have been swept away. What we are facing is not "normal": it is the clear sign of climate change, which is producing phenomena that are exceptional in their violence, extent, and duration, marking a turning point with the past. Denying it means failing to understand what has happened. And, above all, it means not being prepared for what could happen again.
Today, many interventions need to be made: from reforestation, to waterway maintenance, to slope consolidation, to urban planning, to interventions on roads and inland infrastructure, to the strengthening and safety of ports and coastlines overexposed during extreme events that were unimaginable until a few years ago, but are now increasingly likely.
Already in 2020, the Global Risks Report highlighted that "the global risks at the top of the list in terms of probability are all related to the environment." These include extreme weather events; the failure of climate change adaptation policies; major natural disasters (such as tsunamis, large landslides, and similar events); and human-caused environmental damage and disasters.
Human activity, tainted by capitalist modernism and uncontrolled speculation, severely impacts the environment, creating the conditions for environmental disasters.
We need to become aware of nature's rhythms and consider land development in symbiosis with the natural environment, forcing a shift in the predatory and business-driven mentality of profit-hungry politicians, administrators, and entrepreneurs.
Renato Franzitta
https://umanitanova.org/devastazione-e-saccheggio-del-territorio-ciclone-harry-e-disastri-ambientali-catastrofi-annunciate/
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Link: (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #3-26 - Devastation and Land Destruction. Cyclone Harry and Environmental Disasters: Catastrophes Foretold (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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